


Graveyard Spiral

by AncalagonDrakka



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, BAMF!Tooth, Colonel E. Aster Bunnymund, Everyone needs a vacation, Explosions, General Kozmotis Pitchiner - Freeform, He's hopeful, Jack just wants to be prepared, Kozmotis just can't catch a break, Minor Character Death, Multi, Protective Kozmotis, Road Trips, Sera being adorable, Sex Backpack, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Too much time spent in one car, With too many people in said car, Zombie Apocalypse, yeah I said sex backpack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 12:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2693207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AncalagonDrakka/pseuds/AncalagonDrakka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kozmotis Pitchiner, recently returned general, is looking forward to spending his leave with his daughter. Too bad the Zombie Apocalypse kind of ruins those plans. Between killing zombies and picking up hitchhikers, this is one vacation that will be anything but relaxing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> GRAVEYARD SPIRAL: The downward, corkscrew-motion of a disabled aircraft which is unrecoverably headed for a crash.  
> In aviation, a graveyard spiral is a dangerous spiral dive entered into accidentally by a pilot who is not trained or not proficient in instrument flight when flying in instrument meteorological conditions.  
> Synonym: Death Spiral  
> I got my inspiration for this after playing a game called Choice of Zombies. If you guys haven't played it yet, you should. It's really fun. And free. It's like one of those create your own adventure books.  
> This story basically follows the story line of the variation I played after running through it a million times to get the outcome I wanted.  
> I don't own Choice of Zombies or Rise of the Guardians.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> `I’m kinda surprised that nobody came up with this sooner, but oh well. More fun for me. Guys, I’ve already started getting zombie themed nightmares and I’ve hardly even started. I’m wondering if that’s a good sign or a bad one. It doubtlessly won’t be the last time. I think I’ll be an insomniac by the end of this.  
> Tatiana is Tooth  
> Aster is Bunnymund  
> I hope the rest are pretty obvious.  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Rise of the Guardians, Guardians of Childhood, or Choice of Zombies.  
> IMPORTANT: Everyone is human, and I’m going to use Kozmotis Pitchiner instead of Pitch Black, because he’s a good guy here. I hope you guys enjoy~  
> GRAVEYARD SPIRAL: The downward, corkscrew-motion of a disabled aircraft which is unrecoverably headed for a crash.  
> In aviation, a graveyard spiral is a dangerous spiral dive entered into accidentally by a pilot who is not trained or not proficient in instrument flight when flying in instrument meteorological conditions.  
> Synonym: Death Spiral

Kozmotis Pitchiner sighed as he took a sip of his coffee. As usual, his energetic daughter had woken him up early in the morning. After almost two days of being back home from an assignment, the general was finally letting himself relax. Kozmotis was looking forward to the time he was going to spend with Seraphina. The house was peacefully quiet, save for the young girl’s giggles as she watched him. They didn’t have a lot of electronics in the house, mostly because Kozmotis couldn’t get the stupid things to work for the life of him. They didn’t have a television, a computer, or any kind of electric game system. They did their dishes by hand and dried their laundry on lines. Another reason for the lack of such appliances was because Seraphina loved playing outside. She didn’t need to get her entertainment from a TV or computer. Some of the few things they did have were a radio and basic electricity, along with a heating and air conditioning system. Other than the radio, the only other source of information they had was the newspaper.

That was all they needed, and the two were perfectly happy with that. It was usually just he and Sera, most of the time when he was home. Kozmotis was generally shy around other people in normal situations. He was awkward and generally didn’t like attention. The only time he was really okay with attention was when he was in command or taking control of a serious situation. Not to say he couldn’t let loose every now and then, but still…

Kozmotis sighed and looked out into the little yard. He frowned, though when he spotted a couple of people out crouched in the grass. They were all hunched over something, something bloody. He thought he could see a limb or two being ripped away from what was certainly a body. There had been plenty of reports about the living dead, but it couldn’t have spread as far east as they were. Not this quickly. But there they were, plain as day. A group of zombies were eating a corpse in his back yard.

Kozmotis set his cup down and carefully herded his daughter to the kitchen. If they could slip out before being noticed, that would be wonderful. “Sera, darling, I need you to go get the emergency bag. You know where it is, don’t you, sweetheart?” He said as calmly as possible. There was no reason to make her panic. She looked up at him with big, honey brown eyes and nodded. “But why do we need it?” Kozmotis sighed and placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “We need it because we have to go somewhere. It’s very important.” With that, he sent her off to get the bag, which had a first aid kit, some water and non-perishable food, and a few weapons with ammo for guns. While she was doing that, Kozmotis went to get a few extra weapons. So much for a nice vacation…

A minute later, Seraphina came back with the messenger bag full of supplies. She passed it up to her father, and he put the strap over his head and one shoulder. “Alright, sweetheart, it’s time to go.” The two headed out to the general’s Prius. He didn’t really need such a big car; he only lived with his daughter for heaven’s sake, but it had been some odd sort of gift from an old friend of his. Kozmotis slid into the driver’s seat and Seraphina took her seat behind his.

As they started off through their neighborhood, Kozmotis tried not to look at the people being dragged out of their houses or who were already being eaten. He could hear his daughter whimper behind him, and he quickly told her not to look. He could only hope that she listened. This was a truly terrifying situation to be in, and Kozmotis made a promise to himself right then that he would protect his daughter and keep her as safe as possible at all times. He wished he could say it would be okay, that they would be alright, but he knew that was a lie. There wasn’t a very good chance of getting through this, but hell if he wasn’t going to try.

Through the rear view mirror, Kozmotis could see a horde of zombies try to chase after their car. For the walking dead, they were moving pretty quickly. Eventually, the masses thinned out and gave up altogether as they found easier prey. Once they got into town, the infestation only seemed to be worse. There were zombies spilling out of almost every door and more of them were mulling around outside. The faster they got out of town and away from the more populated areas, the better. Within half an hour at least they managed to pass the city limits. Buildings gave way to open land, a few trees here and there, and the roads weren’t quite as well maintained. 

Hopefully with less people, there would be fewer zombies. It was alright for a few miles, and Kozmotis managed to talk his frightened daughter into a calmer state. This was too much for him to handle, much less a nine year old child. However, after a while longer of driving, Seraphina perked up and pointed. “Daddy, look!” she cried. He followed where she was pointing and saw a pair of zombies, who both appeared to be female, chasing after a boy along the road ahead of them. The boy looked to be at least in his late teens, maybe early twenties at the oldest. What caught his attention the most about the boy was his shock of white hair, which was a stark contrast to his and his daughter’s dark hair. It was a stark contrast to most natural colours, actually. Vaguely, he wondered if it was the boy’s natural hair colour. 

There was a chance that he could save the young man, if he hadn’t already been bitten. If he timed things right, Kozmotis could drive alongside the boy and open the door. If the young man had enough sense, he would try to jump in. It seemed risky, but he didn’t want to let a life go if he could help it. Kozmotis slowed the car when they came upon the boy and the two zombies. The white haired boy turned to look at the car with wide blue eyes. “Sera, can you do something for me?” This was putting her in a little more danger, but he couldn’t reach across to open the door without making the car swerve, and that might make the car hit the boy.

“I need you to open the door on the passenger side. Just pull the latch and give it a little push.” Seraphina leaned over, looking just as scared as the boy outside. “Daddy…” She swallowed, and Kozmotis gave her a nod in an attempt to reassure and encourage her. With no small amount of apprehension, the little girl unbuckled her seatbelt and moved forward. She took hold of the door handle, her small hand shaking. “That’s it, darling. You’re doing so good.” Kozmotis said, constantly flicking his worried golden gaze among her, the boy, and the road ahead of them. Seraphina jerked the handle and shoved the door open, quickly scrambling back into her seat. Once the door was open, the boy started to move closer to the open space. “Get in!” Kozmotis yelled to the boy, trying to slow down a little without letting the zombies catch up. “Gimmie a break, I’m trying!” the young man yelled back, giving Kozmotis an exhausted glare.

The first time he tried to get in, the young man tripped and nearly fell. He must have been running for quite a while. Kozmotis could feel his heart in his throat for a moment after the first attempt. The second try, he scrabbled for the door frame and did fall when he lost his grip. Cursing, Kozmotis glanced back through the rear view mirror to gage how far of a distance there was between the car and the zombies. They didn’t have long. The white haired boy got up and winced, but he continued to run alongside the car.

In a last ditch effort, the boy jumped sideways and landed half in half out of the car. Kozmotis grabbed the boy’s arm, dragging him in the rest of the way, and the boy slammed the door closed behind him. Now that he was safely inside the car, Kozmotis stepped down hard on the gas, leaving the two zombies behind as they sped away down the road.  
They drove on in silence for a long time, all three of them trying to settle down, the boy heaving as he tried to catch his breath. Seraphina looked like she could cry at any given moment. It took quite a while for Kozmotis to calm down and get his heartbeat back down to a normal rate. He glanced over at the boy in the passenger seat, who had his eyes closed and his head tilted back against the headrest. “... Thanks…” he said after a moment, one eye now cracked open to look at Kozmotis. “Of course. I couldn’t just leave you there.” Actually, Kozmotis could have left him there, and could have driven away without the boy and saved himself and his daughter the trouble. But as a general, he felt it was his job to help those that could be helped. Besides that, he couldn’t have handled the guilt.

“So, do I get to know the name of my knight in shining armor?” The white haired boy asked as he sat forward, as if trying to get a better look at the other. “Kozmotis,” He replied, once again turning his attention to the boy for a few seconds. “Kozmotis Pitchiner.” “Huh, odd name. I’m Jackson Frost, but everyone calls me Jack.” Jack managed to summon a small grin, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Well, Jack, it’s nice to meet you. Not to seem insensitive, but you didn’t happen to get bitten, did you?” Kozmotis had to be sure. He couldn’t risk the safety of his daughter or himself if this boy was infected. Just to be sure, Jack looked himself over before he answered that no, he had not been bitten.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you end up getting chased all the way out here?” He asked after another pause. “Oh, well my family has a little cabin out here that we were staying at, and my mom, my little sister, and I went out for a little walk. Some guy came up to us and started following us before he attacked my mom. She… ended up biting my sister…” Jack trailed off and looked down, and Kozmotis could only assume that the two zombies that had been chasing Jack were once his mother and sister. Seraphina decided to pipe up after that, still nervous but quickly recovering. “Don’t worry, Mr. Jack,” She said, scooting forward in her seat and using the back of the driver seat to lean closer. “We can be your family now! Daddy will keep you safe, too.” Seraphina smiled at Jack, and Jack turned his head to smile back at her. “Ah, this is my daughter, Seraphina.” Jack smiled again. “Cute kid.” Kozmotis chuckled quietly to himself and looked ahead at the road. It seemed they had a new addition, and he hoped Jack would stay. He looked like a good kid, and Seraphina had already taken a shine to him. 

“Well, Jack, if you do stay with us, then welcome to the family.” After that, Seraphina began to chat away to Jack, asking him all kinds of questions as they drove. Jack happily answered every one, even asking a few of his own before Seraphina started asking for stories. It was nice to know Kozmotis had picked up someone who was good with kids.  
A few hours passed like that before Jack paused in his story telling to ask a question. “So, where are we going?” Kozmotis hummed, brows furrowing. That was a very good question, and he didn’t have a specific answer at the moment. The best he could do was give an idea. “It would probably be a good idea to get to a shelter, if there are any. We can’t just drive forever, after all.” With that said, he turned on the car radio, waiting for a moment for the static to pass. It seemed that the radio towers had been having some problems. There were probably a few zombie attacks there, too. Eventually, a weak signal came in and a scratchy voice came into focus. “… life-threatening situ… advising all survivors to t…shelter. Safe havens have been formed at the Burgess elementary school and the department store. A riot has broken out at the high school, and it is no longer considered safe. Please head to the elementary school or the department store…” As if on cue, the static flared up on the radio and drowned out the voice. 

“I recommend the store. There may be less defenses, but it will have better supplies and possibly even weapons and ammo.” Speaking of which, he should probably give Jack a gun to protect himself with. With that plan in mind, Kozmotis drove in the direction of the department store in the next little town over. Burgess, if he had guessed correctly from the radio. It would probably take a while for them to actually find a main road that lead to the town, but he didn’t think that was such a bad thing. For now, staying away from populated areas seemed like a good plan.

While they drove, Kozmotis tried to make a little bit of small talk with Jack, who was alternating his attention between the general and the little girl behind them. They exchanged some information of the previous goings on in the world, touched in on the current happenings-though nobody really wanted to think about the zombies. “So, you seem to be pretty calm about all of this. You didn’t even freak out when you helped me.” Jack said as he leaned back a little in his seat. “Did you have some kind of training for that or something?” At that question, Kozmotis sighed and gave Jack a shallow nod. “I’m in the military; home on leave for a few weeks.” He’d had plenty of drills pounded into his head, about learning to keep a level head in dangerous situations. Out of the corner of his eye, Kozmotis thought he saw Jack perk up a little. 

“Really? What branch and rank?” It seemed like he had found a point of interest in the young man, or at least something that was familiar to the other. “I’m a general of the Army. I suppose I would have been called back to fight what’s going on if there had been more warning. As it is, it seems like a very disorganized situation.” It got quiet after that, and Kozmotis could just barely make out the sound of humming. Seraphina must have either gotten bored or nervous, and honestly, he couldn’t blame the poor girl. She fell asleep a few hours later, though.

It was starting to get dark out when the three came upon an isolated little house on a hill. Kozmotis frowned, slowing the car down to get a better look. House really wasn’t the right word for the building; it was more like a cottage. While it might be a good idea to stop for the night and rest, any people that might still be there could have been bitten or eaten. He would need a second opinion on this. He didn’t want to ask his daughter, since that would mean waking her up, so it seemed like Jack would have to be the one to help him. A small nudge to the arm got the teen’s attention quickly enough. “Jack, do you see that house there? The one on the little hill?” Kozmotis pointed it out and got a nod from Jack. “It has the potential to be a safe place to spend the night. If the owners haven’t become zombies, that is. Do you want to look around to see if we can stop here?” He could practically see the gears turning in Jack’s head as he eyed the cottage. “Well, it might be good to get off the road at night. But I don’t think we should go up there without some sort of protection.”

The young man’s eyes went wide when Kozmotis grabbed a gun from the glove box. He handed that one to Jack, taking the second one that he had strapped to his hip for himself. “I hope you know how to use that.” “Well… I have the basics down, but if we have time later, a lesson or two couldn’t hurt.” He gave Kozmotis a nervous smile. Lessons on weaponry would definitely be in order. “Alright Jack, I want you to stay here with Seraphina. Yell for me first if something happens; shoot if you have to. I’ll go look around the house to make sure it’s safe.” Kozmotis opened the door to his side of the car and slid out of the seat, keeping his gun at the ready.

Slowly, carefully, the general moved toward the cottage, making sure to look all around him in case he was attacked. The area around the place looked well-kept and undisturbed, a few beds of brightly colored flowers hugging the sturdy looking walls. There were no zombies outside at least. Next, Kozmotis went back to the front door and knocked harshly. He stepped back and waited, gun aimed at the door, just in case. The door slammed open and Kozmotis came face to face with the end of a rifle, which surprised Kozmotis more than he wanted to admit. What surprised him even more was the man holding the rifle. There was Edgar Aster Bunnymund, the colonel that had recently worked under his command. The two of them stood there for a moment, eyes locked and guns pointed at each other, ready to fire at one wrong move. Oddly enough – or maybe not, it was Aster’s wife that put an end to their little standoff. “Aster? Who’s at the door?” Behind the well-muscled, tall man came a petite woman, her large violet eyes giving off obvious concern. Aster lowered his rifle, still glaring sharply at his superior officer.

“It’s just Pitchiner.” Aster grumbled, turning to Tatiana and running a calloused hand through his blue-grey hair. “Oh, don’t get too excited, Bunnymund. Someone might think you’re happy to see me.” Kozmotis said dryly, raising a brow. At the mention of the general, Tatiana smiled, though there was still worry written all over her face. “Oh, General Pitchiner, how lovely to see you. Come in, won’t you?” Kozmotis almost laughed at Aster’s expression when the small woman invited him in. “I would love to, but I have my daughter and a friend with me. Is it alright if they come in as well?” “Of course, of course! Bring them up and come on in.” He left the married couple as they started up an argument, most likely about the sudden stay.

“Jack, it’s alright! The house is safe!” He called. Both Jack and Seraphina poked their heads out the window, getting an amused chuckle from the general. “Come on, you two.” With a little bit more coaxing, Kozmotis had the two out of the car and up the steps. Aster was no longer at the door, but sulking inside while Tatiana waited outside. Both he and Jack smiled when Seraphina squealed happily and ran toward Tatiana. It was cute how much his daughter looked up to the dentist. Tatiana stooped down a little bit to catch the young girl in a hug, giggling and laughing softly as Tatiana lead Seraphina into the building with Jack and Kozmotis following not too far behind. 

The cottage was as small on the inside as it was on the outside, but it was comfortable. It was very cozy with three extra people there, now. Aster looked up from putting his rifle away, sending a glare at Kozmotis. The colonel had never liked him. “We only have one guest room, so you’ll all be sharin’.” He said gruffly. Aster, like Kozmotis, was a tall man who stood at about the same height as Kozmotis, give or take an inch or two. But he had more bulk. He had a heavier build than his superior officer. He had stunning green eyes and a thick Australian accent, and possibly the only unattractive things about him were his slightly larger than normal front teeth and his attitude. “That’s fine.” Kozmotis replied coolly, expression set in a neutral mask. Yet again, there was a less than friendly stare off between the two which was broken up again by dear Tatiana.

“Aster, dear, why don’t you come help me whip something up for dinner?” Tatiana placed one of her small hands on Aster’s arm, looking up at him with a mix of concern and weariness. Kozmotis caught the look on her face and both he and Aster frowned. This chaos was taking a toll on all of them already. “Alright. I’ll help.” Aster quickly relented and let his wife pull him off toward the little kitchen. Tatiana paused and glanced over her shoulder. “The guest room is down the hall back there on the left, right across from ours. The bathroom is at the very end of the hall. You three go and get settled while we get dinner ready.” She said kindly before resuming the short walk with Aster.

Kozmotis ushered his daughter off to the spare room with Jack just behind him. “I’m going to go out to the car and get a few things, alright. I’ll be back in a minute or two.” He smiled a little before he turned and went back out to get the emergency bag and a few extra blankets he always carried with him in the car. He figured that Seraphina would have the bed, so the extra blankets would be necessary. Kozmotis sighed and looked up at the sky. It was a deep red, fading to purple and orange and pink with the setting sun. It was nice to just take a minute to unwind after all the horrors today. But this was only the beginning. There were so many more to come… It seemed like forever ago that he had come home to spend time with his daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you guys! This is probably one of the more rushed chapters. We met like five characters in one go. I plan on adding the other two Guardians and all of the little children. I think I’ll give this three or four more chapters, but keep in mind that they’ll be around this length, so that should make up for how short this is. I started writing this monster a year ago after playing Choice of Zombies. Now I’m actually getting on the stick. With this chapter at least. Also, I may pair up Kozmotis and Jack if you like. It will give me some opportunities to slip in some fluff from Sera toward Jack. Let me know. I also may or may not add in a baby for Tooth and Bunny later. If you want, I can change the rating later or give you a separate ‘deleted scene’ or whatever. Review and criticism are nice, flames are not. Thank you all for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter over an eight hour car ride because we were going to visit family over Thanksgiving. It gave me the perfect chance to get something done.

They passed the night fairly quietly. Tatiana had served a wonderful meal, Aster was graciously silent. For now, at least. Kozmotis couldn’t care less about sleeping on the floor. They were safe for the night. Before going to bed, Kozmotis had gone over the plan with Tatiana and Aster; it was the least he could do. “We’re leaving in the morning,” He’d said. “It’s safer for everyone if we keep moving. We could also use some help, so you’re welcome to come if you want.” Aster looked like he wanted to protest, but a sharp jab from his wife cut him off before he began. “I trust your judgment, at least. If what you say is true, then I don’t think I would feel comfortable staying here. We’ll do what we can to help.” She smiled weakly, the sudden pressure of the dark news straining her pretty face.

Sleep would be hard to come by now, but Kozmotis couldn’t sleep. He felt restless. He wanted to make sure his daughter, and now Jack as well, were safe. With another restless sigh, Kozmotis sat up from his little nest of blankets on the floor and stood to go stand by the little window. The stars twinkled at him from the sky, but there was no moon to be seen. A new moon. The general had never been one for superstitions, but the lack of moonlight made him uneasy. Were they going to survive this? And even if they did, would they come out of it with their minds still intact. In a sense, this was worse than war. Nobody seemed to know what to do, and Kozmotis wondered if he even knew what to do. But he had people to protect, and as long as he still had life in his body, he would keep them safe. With that in mind, he shuffled back from the window and to his nest. He should still try to sleep.

Everyone was up early the next day. Well, almost everyone. Kozmotis carried Seraphina out of the bedroom, walking silently down the hall were a quick breakfast and coffee were waiting. He had better enjoy the coffee while it lasted. This would most likely be the last time he had any for a very long time. He shared a small smile with Tatiana as he sat down. Jack was still half asleep in his chair and at risk of slumping face first into his breakfast. Aster, he assumed, had finished a while ago and was now gathering up supplies they would need. They ate quickly and Kozmotis went to go help Aster as soon as he was done. He may not have been very fond of the man, but petty dislike wasn’t very high on the priority list at the moment. 

Kozmotis found Aster in the hall closet, pulling out a small medical kit. It looked a little outdated and unused. The general eyed it warily. Aster must have caught the look because he made a grumpy sound and glares back. Oi, don’t turn your nose up at it. Some is better than none, ain’t it?” “I never said anything,” Kozmotis said, putting his hands up in a show of non-aggression. He just got another grumble in response. “You have non-perishable food, don’t you? We’ll need a lot of it, since we probably won’t be stopping very frequently after this. At least not in places where we can get food.” Kozmotis inquired with a tilted head. Aster only seemed to glare at him harder for that. “You think we didn’t already think of that? Tatiana packed up all of the food we could take earlier this morning before you lot even got up.” With a sigh, Kozmotis just turned and walked away. He just couldn’t win with this man. He would have more luck talking to Aster’s wife. Why Tatiana even married the man, he will never know.  
After that, it doesn’t take long to get everything in order. They all pack up the car, take their seats, and head out.

About half an hour into the drive, Kozmotis glanced over at Jack to see how he was doing. The young man looked like he was playing around with a smartphone. “What are you doing?” He asked, turning his eyes back to the road. “Oh,” Jack said, looking up briefly. “Well, I thought my phone had fallen out of my pocket when I was running away, but it didn’t.” He leaned back and tapped at the screen. “I checked to see if the internet was still up. It is which is kind of funny. Twitter actually has a #zombiepocalypse survivor group going on. Looks like it’s so people can check in and tell everyone they’re okay.” Jack paused for a minute or two, scrolling down to look at a few of the posts. “I’ll put all of our names on it, okay.” Kozmotis blinked and raised a brow. “Er… Alright.” He had absolutely no idea what Jack was talking about. Again, he just wasn’t a technology person.  
“Huh,” Jack said after a few more minutes. “This is weird.” “What’s weird?” Tatiana piped up from a row back. She leaned up a little bit to join the conversation.

“Okay, so there’s all these Tweets, from the last few days-they’re all from different people, and they all say things like #still okay and #not a zombie yet and stuff like that. Except there aren’t any from yesterday or today. Everyone’s gone dark. But there’s still one guy-Nicholas North. He’s been posting the same thing over and over again every few hours. The last few say COME GET ME, Need transport to shelter, and Can provide protection.” Jack squints at his phone in concentration. “The name sounds familiar…” He shook his head and began to type. “I’m going to ask him for directions on how to get to him.”

While Jack was doing that, Kozmotis glanced down at the gas gage out of reflex. It’s just the smart thing to do when driving through the back country roads. The tank is about half full. That’s about when Aster points out an upcoming gas station. It’s little more than a single pump and a shack for a rest house, but it could still be working. “I’m not sure we should stop there…” Tatiana said quietly. Kozmotis silently agreed with her. It just looked too quiet to actually be safe. “Yeah, well it never hurts to bag some extra stuff. It’s too far out to have been looted, I bet.” An uneasy silence came over the car for a while. Kozmotis slowed down and looked at the tiny station. He came to a gradual stop at the turn off and glanced around at the other passengers. “Well? Do we want to stop or keep going?” Another long silence, and then, “Why not just pull in for a minute?” suggested Jack. Kozmotis hesitated for a while longer, but in the end, he rolled into the drive and parked next to the little pump. 

“Alright, here’s what we’ll do. Two people are going to stay here to fill up the car and stand guard. Two people are going to go look through the shop and see if we can find anything. Understood?” He got a nod out of everyone but his daughter. Seraphina looked very put out. “But daddy, what about me? What do I get to do?” She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted up at him. Kozmotis sighed and gave her a tired smile. “You get to be our siren, sweetheart. You stay with the group at the car, and if you see anything bad, you scream as loud as you can.” He knew they could all count on that. Seraphina could scream like a banshee when she was so inclined to do so. 

Her face changed to something resembling determination. Kozmotis knew he could count on her. Both Aster and Tatiana slid out of their seats, followed by Jack. Once he was sure his daughter would be alright, Kozmotis stepped out and stretched. When he put his arms down and opened his eyes, he noticed a pair of eyes on him. He turned his head slightly to find Jack staring at him with a slightly awed look. The general blinked at Jack, frowning. “What?” That seemed to snap Jack out of his stupor. The boy shook his head and laughed nervously. “Nothing, just… I haven’t really had the chance to notice how tall you were until now.” Jack ducked his head and shifted uneasily. For now, Kozmotis left it alone. They had to work quickly. 

Tatiana and Jack volunteered to stay with the car and top it off, which left Aster and Kozmotis to go scope out the shop. They didn’t look at or talk to each other as they made the short walk to the creaky looking door. They really shouldn’t have been surprised at the zombie shuffling toward the back corner of the store. It looked like it had trapped someone and was advancing forward. There was still the chance to save them, then, if they hadn’t been bitten yet. “Pitchiner, I know what you’re thinking,” Aster growled. “It ain’t worth it, mate. Don’t do it.” Kozmotis just shot him a look. “If you know what I’m thinking, then you know I’m going to try.” They had worked together long enough, so Aster should know that by now. He was going to save this man. He didn’t want to use the gun just yet unless he had to. They would need to save ammunition. 

Kozmotis glanced around the shop to look for something to use. Along the left shelves were Frisbees, beach balls, whiffle balls, and plastic bats. A little further down there was a freezer full of bags of ice. Nothing very useful there. On the right side of the store there were cans of cat food, charcoal, lighter fluid, and some cookout type foods. Vaguely, Kozmotis wondered why there was cat food in the cookout display. However, in the time it had taken him to look around the store, the zombie had lost interest in the cowering person in the corner and had turned on them. For whatever reason, it seemed more interested in the two of them. With very little warning, it lunged forward. On a split second decision, Kozmotis jumped right. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Aster going for the person in the corner. Good.

What wasn’t good was that the zombie was lurching after him as he scrambled for the shelves. As quickly as he could, Kozmotis grabbed one of the lighters and a jug of lighter fluid. His hands were shaking slightly as he wrenched the cap off of the jug. The zombie continued to shuffle forward and Kozmotis forced himself not to freeze up. He swung the lighter fluid in a wide arc, sending the liquid everywhere. A good splash lands on the zombie. He swung the container back again before pouring the rest of the jug out on the floor. The zombie had paused, seemingly confused by the lighter fluid. It didn’t stop for long, but it was just enough time to flick the lighter on and dash out of the way.  
“GO!” Kozmotis shouted. He dropped the lighter, as he ran. Aster was close behind him, carrying the other person over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Neither of them look back. 

From there, it’s a mad dash to the car. Aster is shouting at Jack and Tatiana to get in the car. The Australian ripped his door open and jumped in, slamming it behind him. The person from the store is unceremoniously tossed into the row behind them. Kozmotis jumped and rolled across the hood of his car. He caught a brief glimpse of Jack’s startled expression before he landed on the driver’s side and hurried in. Kozmotis barely managed to get his door shut before he cranked the key in the ignition and floored the gas. By the time they had started down the road, the entire station was in flames. A few more minutes on and they could all hear the explosion. The gas pump had blown, sending balls of fire in every direction. 

They had been driving for what felt like a small eternity before Kozmotis felt his heart start to settle. 

Eventually, Aster insisted they stop when they got to a wide open area a few more miles down the road. They had to make sure the person from the store hadn’t been bitten. There were no bite marks, much to everyone’s relief. But then Kozmotis really looked at the man. “Hang on a tick, is that…” He squinted and stepped closer. The man was short and chubby, with fluffy blonde hair sticking up in all direction. He had a kind face; one that Kozmotis would never forget. “Sanderson!” 

He rushed forward, hands flying in a flurry of signs. He hadn’t seen Sanderson in years! Sanderson grinned up at him, signing back. They spent a few minutes briefing each other on what had happened. When they were done, Kozmotis turned back to the rest of the group with a smile. “Everyone, this is Sanderson Mansnoozie; Sandy for short. He’s a friend of mine from college. He said he was trying to get to the interstate to get to Mr. North, but apparently his car broke down.” Kozmotis turned back to Sandy, signing again, He pointed to each member of their group and told him their names. “Um… Can you ask him if he wants to come with us?” Tatiana asked quietly, still keeping a wary eye on the short man. “Well, if we’re all going to the same place, then I think he should come. Besides, safety in numbers.” Jack said, shrugging. Kozmotis caught the young man staring again, but he paid it no mind. 

“Sandy will be coming with us.” Kozmotis announced after a minute or two more of silent conversation. “Just so everyone knows where we’re going, Mr. North is apparently in the transfer station a few miles from here on exit 13.” After all of the talking was done, everyone piled back into the car, now with a permanent sixth member. “Our family is even bigger now.” Seraphina said, bouncing happily in her seat. Even though most of them weren’t blood related, nobody bothered to correct the little girl. The statement was true, after all.

There were flowers blooming along the road. They were vivid shades of pink and purple and every other color. The breeze blew around them, making them wave gently as the group drove by. Pennsylvania at its finest. It really should look lovely. But there were cars crashed and abandoned all up and down the interstate. And Jack was complaining weakly about seeing a hand in the wildflowers. That isn’t lovely at all. Slowly, cautiously, Kozmotis rolled the car into the entrance of the transfer station. They came to a stop and almost everyone leaned forward or pressed themselves against a window to see out and get a good look at their surroundings. The car has stopped in front of a wide paved area that is almost completely surrounded by barbed wire at the perimeter. Aster cursed loudly as he got a good look out. “The entire place is fucking overrun with those undead bastards!” Aster growled. He was promptly slapped in the back of the head by Tatiana. “No bad words in front of children.” Tatiana shook a delicate finger in her husband’s face. Aster grumped under his breath, but had better sense than to argue.

Kozmotis hummed, thinking hard as he watched the lurching figures move across the pavement and among the abandoned cars. At the far end, he could see the transfer building. It was a multistory building that looked a little like an oversized shack to him. “Look,” Jack said, pointing toward the bottom of the building. There was more fencing surrounding the base, but Kozmotis could see where Jack was pointing to. “There are some openings there that probably lead to the pit floor. Like where trucks can dump their garbage.” Jack dropped his hand and grinned up at the general. He managed to return a small smile to the young man. Sure enough, there was a wide open space where a truck was parked with the bed slightly raised. It must have been in the process of unloading trash when the attacks started up.

“Some of those zombies are probably the employees. Their parking lot is right next to the pit floor.” Tatiana said, watching with some kind of morbid fascination as the undead milled around what could have been their cars. “Yeah, but there’s too many of them to all be employees. Where did the other ones come from?” Jack asked. He turned in his seat to look back at the couple and the little girl. Aster snorted and rolled his eyes. “It’s obvious, ain’t it? They were probably drawn by the smells coming from the pit.” Everyone shuddered. Kozmotis thought he could hear somebody gag. That wasn’t something he wanted to think about.

“Daddy, look! There’s a man on that tower!” Seraphina had pulled herself forward so that she was halfway into the front of the car. Everyone turned their gazes up to the top of the smokestack that stood just to the left of the transfer building. There on the catwalk among the scaffolding was a rather large looking man in a bright red coat. Kozmotis assumed that this must be Nicholas North. 

Half a dozen zombies were surrounding the area, sluggishly pulling the metal mesh back and forth and staring up at the potential meal with their blank eyes. They were not being particularly efficient about it, but the fence would come down eventually. They must have run out of everything else to eat. That was when Jack’s phone cheeped. Jack glanced down at it and read the message. “He’s asking if we’re here yet. He says that he saw our car coming in. He’s on top of the smokestack.” The young man looked up from his phone to the general, gaze questioning. “Alright. Er… Tell him we’re here, I guess.” He said, suppressing the urge to shrug. Almost as soon as the message was sent, the phone began to ring. Jack answered it and put it on speaker. “Hello,” says the voice on the other end. The accent is thick and the voice sounds tinny through the speakerphone. Kozmotis guessed that it could be Russian. “This is Nicholas.”

“Kozmotis.” The general says in lieu of a hello. He kept a wary eye on the various hordes of zombies. 

“You will want to be careful.” North said. “This place is full of zombies.” As if they had missed that fact so far, Kozmotis thought dryly to himself. “Inside and out,” North continued. “I am thinking couple people came to work with infection. Incubation time from biting is about one hour as far as I can tell from people I have seen, assuming you are not just killed. If you are already dead, BOOM! Instant zombie! It spread through this place very fast. I knew that only chance to live for me was to get to the tower and make barricade.”

North sounded pretty proud of himself. Had he not noticed that he had put himself in a position where there are several floors and several zombies between himself and safety? Kozmotis mentions something to that effect. “Bah, is fine,” North laughed. Kozmotis could picture him waving a hand dismissively, as though all of their lives were not in danger. “I have plan.”

“I have had lot of time to watch them. They are very distractible. They will go after nearest shiny thing. Or loud thing. And I can see everything from here.” North said in what could have been an encouraging and reassuring manner. It really wasn’t. But North did seem to have some valuable information. “So here is plan. You see that truck? The keys are still in. I can help you sneak to it. You start it and get it pointed downhill, and fix block of wood or something to hold gas pedal down. Maybe get the horn to beep too. The zombies will all flock after it, and as soon as they're drawn away from incinerator fence, I come down the ladder and we get out of here. Is perfect, no?”

“I think I hate this plan.” Aster deadpanned. Well, the plan didn’t seem too bad, but it was risky. “Well, do you have a better plan, Bunnymund?” Kozmotis glanced back at the Australian, raising a brow expectantly. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I do.” Aster puffed out his chest and raised his chin up. “You drive away from the door, honk the horn a few times and get their attention. They’ll follow us. Then ya just run ‘em down as they come and we meet the guy by the door when we get ‘em all. Simple. And nobody has to get out of the car.” That could be a possibility, but there were a lot of zombies out there. “I think we should use the first plan.” Kozmotis decided. “Okay,” North said quietly. "You will have to have to approach truck from the pit floor. I can see everything from here, and there are no zombies in the lunch area behind building. So you could climb the perimeter fence near the lunch area and run into the transfer building. Or if you don't want to climb, there is hole in the fence near the employee cars. You could hide behind cars and sneak into the building."

For a moment, Kozmotis considered his options. Climbing the fence would put him at risk from the barbed wire at the top, but it would put him exactly where he needed to be. Leapfrogging past all of the cars would put him perilously close to the zombies ambling around outside, but if he was quiet, it should be possible. He hesitated for another minute before quietly pushing his door open. Before he stepped out, he felt a hand on his arm. Kozmotis turned, his golden gaze meeting Jack’s icy blue gaze. He expected the boy to ask him not to go, but he was surprised. “Be careful, okay. Come back in one piece.” Jack said softly. They held the gaze for a few more seconds before Kozmotis turned away. “I’ll try.” But there would be no promises.

With his heart in his throat, the general slipped through the hole in the fence. Just on the other side of the cars, he could hear the zombies shuffling about. For the most part, the cars could provide some protection, but there were a few gaps where he would have to make a run for it. He could only hope that none of them saw him. 

Kozmotis quickly made has way past the first too cars, looking over his shoulder to his car. Everyone was leaning forward with wide eyes. Even Aster looked a little nervous. The first gap was coming up. Kozmotis peeked out from behind the bumper and held his breath. There were two zombies standing there, so close he could have reached out to touch them if he had wanted to. Lucky for him, they were looking in the opposite direction. He crouched down, took a deep breath, then darted forward. He froze behind the next car, heart pounding so hard it felt like it would leap out of his chest. Neither of the zombies pursued him. He got past the next car and dashed again. On the last run, Kozmotis made it to the lunch area. A few zombies turned their heads then, but the general had already ducked into the building.

Kozmotis nearly heaved as he eased into the pit floor. The inside of the transfer station reeked of meat and slimy things and vomit and diapers and whatever else was in people's trash. The whole place looked like one big garage and the truck he needed was on the far side of the pit. It would be difficult and probably very stupid to try to run straight to the truck. It would be too easy to get caught by a horde of hungry zombies. There was a set of stairs and a platform leading almost directly to the truck. It wasn’t nearly as risky, but the horde still might be able to see him. They wouldn’t be able to do very much about it if he went up to the platform, but the situation could change while he was up there. Sprint across or take the stairs…

The situation changed while Kozmotis thought. Movement on the platform drew the general’s attention, and he caught sight of a solitary zombie shuffling along by the railing. Still, it was only one… And there was a fire extinguisher right there by the staircase. He acted quickly. Kozmotis silently took the fire extinguisher, crept up the stairs, and raised the metal canister. The zombie had just started to turn when Kozmotis brought the extinguisher down hard. It collided with the zombie’s head with a dull thunk, adding coagulated blood and brain to the fire truck red metal.

It was almost comical how the zombie toppled sideways and cartwheeled over the railing. Kozmotis glanced over the railing just in time to see the zombies on the floor below swarm their fellow to gnaw on its skewed limbs. After that, he sprinted the rest of the way over to the truck, stumbled down the stairs, and carefully oven the passenger door to slide into the driver’s seat. Zombies clustered around the truck, banging their fists uselessly on the sides. They left disgusting smears on the sides as their wet, rotting skin made contact with the metal and glass. Just as North had said, the keys were in the ignition. Kozmotis started the truck.

He gunned the engine to start it up and attract as much attention as possible, even blowing the horn a few times for good measure. With the fire extinguisher, Kozmotis wedged the engine down. Then he pressed down on the clutch, engaged the first gear, and pushed himself over to the other side of the cab as far as he could without letting up on the clutch. He reached over, shoved open the passenger door, released the clutch, and jumped. He was in freefall for a second or two, jarred and slightly nauseated as the ground rushed up to meet him. The zombies that had been in front of the truck were now flat on their backs being used as speed bumps, and the ones in back were being dragged all over the pavement. Kozmotis had landed heavily, but had thankfully gone unnoticed as the zombies not attached to the truck chased after it.

“North, go!” Kozmotis shouted into the phone. The general made his way outside and watched as the fat man in the red coat barreled down the circular staircase around the tower.  
“Zamechatel’no!” North exclaimed when they met up at the base of the tower. “That was truly inspiring!” Frankly, Kozmotis thought so as well. He had done pretty damn good today. 

When they got back to the car, North in tow, Jack leapt at the man. “Uncle North! I’m so glad you’re okay!” The two shared broad grins, and Kozmotis could see how they might be family. Same smiles, same mischievous twinkle in similar blue eyes. “Jackie! Is very good to see you again! I see you have found good man to be with in hard times.” North teased him, nudging the young man with a huge forearm. The fat man nodded his head in Kozmotis’ direction with a suggestive look. Jack’s face turned red and he started to splutter. “N-no, it isn’t like that!”

Kozmotis sighed and put a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “We really do need to get going. We don’t know if or when another hoard might come by.” North laughed, slapping the general on the back as he walked by. The force nearly knocked the poor man over. North clambered into the back seat as Jack and Kozmotis took their places up front.  
“So, uh… I think you may have just gone from ‘zombiepocalypse survivor’ to ‘zombiepocalypse force to be reckoned with’ out there.” Jack said once they were on their way. “That was… pretty awesome.” Kozmotis chuckled and offered a brighter smile. He liked this boy.

Along the drive, North shared some information about himself. He was a toymaker and a toy inventor, though he sometimes worked other odd jobs to pay the bills. He was more of a family friend than an actual blood relative to Jack, but that hardly mattered. “So,” North said jovially. “Where are we going?” “Burgess Mall.” Aster said, looking for all the world like he would rather be anywhere else. “Hmm… That may not be good choice. From what I have seen, it looks like dead human is stronger than average alive human. It means we really need a place that is secure. I am thinking that mall is not so secure.”

“Yeah,” Aster said. “But it seems-” 

“I have been thinking about what makes them so much stronger than us. It looks to me like they're operating at full peak exertion—maybe even more. How they do that without lot of energy is not clear to me, but human muscle formations are capable of significant feats of strength beyond what we normally operate at.”  
Aster tried to interrupt then to get his point across. “I’m not sure-”

“I saw some really interesting tests in one of the labs on mechanics of the human body. You would be amazed by the possible forces the larger muscle groups can exert. Most of us never get to that limit, but somehow zombies are right on that edge. I would not be surprised to see them snap their own arms. So, we need somewhere that average body builder couldn't break into.”

“Hey,” Aster tried again. “Maybe-”

“You have to wonder what chemical reactions are going on in those bodies to allow this to happen. Hey, it makes more sense now why they're after meat—is high in protein and fat and probably good source of energy. Makes me wonder if they might just burn themselves out—like nuclear reactor—that would be good, except what will we do with all the corpses? Maybe we can put them in huge hole with the spent uranium. That would burn up the bodies, too.…”

North didn’t seem to take a breath the entire way to the mall, and Aster looked like he had given up trying to get a word in edgewise. He was sitting hunkered down in his seat with a stormy expression on his face. Across from him, Tatiana just rolled her eyes. This was probably a normal thing for her.

The sun is hanging low in the sky by the time they pull into the parking lot. Two or three of the occupants are dozing in their seats. Kozmotis frowns as he surveys the parking lot and the building. Everything looks abandoned and quiet. 

Too quiet.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all. Sorry about the wait on the chapter. I should have another update before the end of March. I'll be spending a week in Hawai'i, so I'll have plenty of writing time on the plane.

Nobody got out of the car when they stopped. Something seemed wrong here. They should have at least had a lookout here, shouldn’t they? “Yeah, they should have.” Aster said sourly. Kozmotis blinked. He hadn’t realized he had said that out loud. “Bunch of incompetents; just our luck.” Tatiana sighed and began trying to calm her husband down. “There’s no reason to get upset, Bunny. We just need to be careful here.” She said gently. Kozmotis was glad they had Tatiana with them. Sometimes, she acted like the only sane person in the car. 

Before anyone could stop her, Seraphina crawled up to the front seat and pressed her chubby little hands to the front of the steering wheel. Everyone jumped and yelped when the horn blared. Well, if there were any zombies here, at least they would know. By the time Kozmotis managed to lift his daughter away from the wheel, a young woman’s face appeared in the window. She shouted at them through the glass, directing them to the loading dock around in the back. They found it with no problems. A paved side road led them out of the front parking lot to a pair of huge steel double doors that were built into the ground. Nobody was there to meet them when they came to a stop a minute later. They waited.

Everything was still. It was creepy. Everyone was uneasy. Seraphina wiggled unhappily from where she had been placed in Jack’s lap. 

Finally, one of the doors slowly opened a crack and everyone cautiously stepped out of the car. Kozmotis, Aster, and North grabbed all of their supplies from the car and everyone slowly made their way up to the door. Seraphina had insisted on being picked up halfway to the door, so the general hefted her up in his arms and tolerated the arms that had woven themselves around his neck and shoulders. They stared down the barrel of a gun for a few seconds and a steely brown eye. “Are any of you doctors?” asked a wary female voice. She sounded fairly young, Kozmotis noted briefly. “We have some medical training,” Aster said carefully, gesturing to himself and the general. “We’re in the Army.” Kozmotis added after a pause.

“Why do you ask?” The Australian demanded, stepping forward. “There isn’t any cure for zombieism, y’know. So if you’re hiding any of those bastards in there-” The woman waved him off, lowering her gun. She must have decided they were safe enough. “No, nothing like that,” she said as she opened the door wide for them. “There was a bus out front earlier that brought a group of people that were injured in a big traffic accident in Bedford. Some of them are hurt pretty badly. Follow me; quickly.”  
The young woman, who had introduced herself as Katherine, led them through the basement, up the stairs, and up to the actual mall area. She looked like she could have still been in high school. Up ahead there comfortable looking, squishy chairs that look like they’d grown in the center of every shopping mall. The whole place was lit cheerfully with artificial lights and it smelled a little like coffee. There where tents dotting the floors and people all over were talking and mingling. Kozmotis began to relax at the sight. He could feel his daughter’s arms start to loosen up from around his neck. The rest of his group looked like they were letting out a breath, deflating and letting the tension unwind.  
The tension came back twofold when the unmistakable sound of zombie moans filtered through from the storefront. It was a little off to the left, between his group and the squishy chair area. Aster seemed to be thinking the same thing. The Australian was reaching for his gun while Kozmotis handed his daughter off to Tatiana and Jack. He and Aster drew their guns and ran to find the danger. “No, no, no! Wait! It’s okay! It’s okay!” Katherine said, putting a firm hand on each of their shoulders. Amusement and sympathy struggled for dominance in her voice. Her eyes sparkled at them. “I’m really sorry about that. I should have warned you all when you came in. I know what it sounds like. You’re actually the first group to arrive since we set up the-what did you call it, Nightlight?” 

“Simulation Tank.” said a new voice. Kozmotis jolted and whipped his head around to see the speaker. It was a young man, perhaps about Katherine’s age. His hair was a platinum blonde mop and he wore a simple but nice combination of a turtleneck and slacks. 

“Some of the kids are in there playing right now,” Katherine said as she moved to lean against Nightlight’s shoulder. “Seemed like it could be useful and, well… less hazardous than using guns and looking for real zombies.” For a moment, Kozmotis let his annoyance show on his face and he knew Aster was letting his discontent show for the world to see. Not zombies, the general told himself. Not Zombies. Zombie games. Which they apparently hadn’t felt the need to tell them about. Kozmotis took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair to calm himself down. 

“I really am sorry,” Katherine said again, expression completely contrite now, all traces of amusement were gone. She smiled at the two men before she continued to lead them to the squishy chair area, past the ‘simulation tank’ and a coffee shop where a pair of little old ladies looked to be preparing meals. Nightlight took Tatiana, North, Sandy, Jack, and Sera off somewhere else; presumably somewhere where they could get settled. Kozmotis allowed himself a smile when he caught Sera reach up to hold hands with Jack out of the corner of his eye. “I appreciate your understanding.” Katherine adds, drawing Kozmotis’ attention back. “I’ll take you to the mattress store where we’ve put the injured.”  
Kozmotis shared a look with Aster as they approached the store, both frowning when the sound of more moaning reached their ears. This wasn’t zombies, or another simulation tank. Inside the mattress store, dozens of injured and very alive people were scattered about, separated by colored blankets. The injuries the pair saw ranged from cuts and scrapes, maybe some bad bruising all the way to compound fractures and mangled limbs. Some of the people looked as though they would die any second now. Katherine hadn’t been kidding about the severity of the accident.

An elderly man looks up as they enter, eyeing them briefly before turning his attention to Katherine. “They’re the new medics.” She said with a wan smile. The man let out a relieved breath before moving on to shake hands with Aster and Kozmotis. “Oh, thank goodness,” The old man said with a weak chuckle. “I have some basic first aid training, but I’ve been completely overwhelmed here. My name is Ombric, by the way. Just tell me how I can help you.” After introductions were finished, Aster rolled up his sleeves and took a look around the room before he began barking orders. Kozmotis just sighed and began to gather supplies so he could start work on the severe, but not fatal injuries.  
He glanced back at Ombric and quietly pointed him over to the dying. “There isn’t much we can do for them. Make them as comfortable as you can for now.” With that, Kozmotis went to go treat his own group of patients.

The general hadn’t been working long when a light tap on his shoulder made him look up from setting a young woman’s leg. A willowy young girl, perhaps about eleven years old, stood a little off to the side. “I’m Pippa. I can get you more stuff from the drugstore if you need it.” Kozmotis watched her for a moment, gaging her hopeful brown eyes. “That is very kind of you, young lady, but I don’t need anything right now.” He watched as she seemed to deflate a little, so he added a soft, “But I’ll be sure to come to you when I do need something.” That and a quick smile seemed to lift her spirits. 

Kozmotis worked diligently; removing glass, setting bones, stitching gashes, and anything else that needed to be done. He tried very hard not to think about the severely injured triage group at the far side of the room-he knows for a fact that many of them will not make it, may not even last the night-and spoke calmly with the others when he could coax them into some conversation. Some were more willing to socialize with him than others. He would listen to them talk amongst each other when they wouldn’t talk to him.  
“Woman, I said we should have gone to Long Island.” And older man with a compound fracture grouched at the woman beside him. Probably his wife, Kozmotis thought with a small pang in his chest. Yes, those two were definitely married. He could see their rings. “We should have taken a boat from the dock. The only ones I know are out there are a few of my relatives. If we had gone there, we could have avoided this whole mess.”

Kozmotis was distracted from the couple’s conversation when an argument broke out at the other end of the room. He stood up to see Aster arguing with the young girl from earlier, who was holding an armful of medical supplies. They are using what they probably think are quiet voices, but really aren’t. He can see some of the nearby patients watching the argument warily. 

“Look, kid,” Aster said, making a grab for the supplies in Pippa’s arms. “There ain’t no point in wasting my time or the limited supplies we have on a bunch of people who are just going to die anyway!” The Australian snapped at her as she stumbled back. “That’s the first rule of triage!”

“But that’s cruel!” Pippa yelled back at him, curling around her supplies protectively. “You have to do something to help them!” Aster’s face twisted into an ugly snarl as he advanced forward. “Sentiment doesn’t save lives in the long run, kid.” That was enough for Kozmotis to stand and stride across the room, stepping between the colonel and the girl. “That’s enough.” The general said sternly, fixing Aster with a stony expression. “But-” “I said that’s enough, colonel.” Kozmotis shifted forward and straightened his posture, daring the Australian to defy him. They stood there for a moment, just glaring, before Aster growled and stalked off.

Once he was sure Aster had left, Kozmotis pulled the girl aside and bent down to be eye level with her. “It’s hard, isn’t it?” He said to her gently, resting a hand on her shoulder. “But that’s just the nature of triage. You help the people that can be helped, even if it hurts to let some people die.” For a few more minutes, Kozmotis spoke with Pippa, brushing away a few tears when it was needed. But eventually, she reluctantly agrees to go put back the supplies and Kozmotis felt safe in letting her be.

After that, he returned back to his work, treating wounds and talking with the people for hours. By the time they had everyone stabilized for the night, it was dark outside and both Kozmotis and Aster were exhausted. He watched as the other man wandered off back to the town, probably to go find Tatiana. While Kozmotis shuffled back to the little ‘town’ area, he saw the two little old ladies at work making some kind of drink.

Before he got back though, Jack stopped him. The boy’s expression was dark and his eyes looked suspiciously bright. He didn’t say anything, but he obviously needed someone to talk to. So, Kozmotis carefully took Jack by the arm and steered him to one of the couches that had been moved to the outskirts of the chair area. He waited for a few minutes to let the boy get his thoughts together before asking, “What’s wrong, Jack?” Jack looked up at him with uncertain eyes, shifting uncomfortably. “It’s…” He started shakily, drawing a sharp breath. “It’s Bunnymund. I don’t understand why he acts like he hates me so much.”

Well, Kozmotis thought, this was a promising start to a conversation if he had ever heard one. “What do you mean, Jack? Why would you think Aster hates you?” He reached out, resting his hand on the young man’s back. “He’s just always so angry. Even when I was trying to help earlier, he said I was useless and dead weight.” Jack looked like he was trying hard to keep himself from complaining too much. Kozmotis could see pink blotches starting to form on Jack’s pale cheeks before the young man ducked his head. “I mean, I get that he holds more sway with the group because he can do more, but I’m afraid that you’ll just leave me behind if I try to do anything about it. I don’t want to be alone. I just don’t know what I can do.” Jack finished off with a wavering voice, shoulders tense. Kozmotis sighed and pulled Jack closer to him.

“Hey now,” He chided gently, giving Jack’s shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t say things like that. We’re not going to leave you behind, Jack. I won’t let that happen. “You’re family now, and family always takes care of each other; no matter what.

Jack raised his eyes, a flicker of hope rising up in them. “Really?” He asked, like he wasn’t sure if he could believe what the general had told him. “Really.” Kozmotis said with what he hoped was a reassuring look. 

“I still don’t know why Bunnymund doesn’t like me.” Jack huffed, but he looked much better than he had when he had first come to Kozmotis. “Oh Jack, Aster doesn’t like anyone but his wife. In fact, I’m fairly certain Tatiana is the only reason he’s mellowed out this much. When I first met him, he looked like he could murder any poor sod that looked at him wrong.” That got a weak laugh out of Jack, at least, so Kozmotis felt that the crisis had been averted. He stood, offering his hand to Jack. “Come on. I think they’re still serving food, if you haven’t eaten yet.” Jack glanced down at his hand, staring at it blankly for a beat before he took it. “You have a ring.” Jack blurted, then quickly clammed up and flushed. “Hm? Oh, yes.” He looked down at the gold band on his finger when Jack let go of his hand. “I was married for a little over three years.” Kozmotis rubbed at the warm metal, gaze wistful. “Was?” Jack tilted his head and frowned. “She wasn’t… well…” “Zombified? No. I lost her a long time ago. When my daughter was born.” Kozmotis said quietly as they slowly made their way back to the ‘town’. 

There were still a few meal trays when they got back, so they both ate together in a companionable silence. Jack still seemed a little more subdued than usual, but Kozmotis chalked that up to the long day they’d all had and the little emotional bump he’d gotten through. When they finally went to bed, Kozmotis was pleasantly surprised at how soft the sleeping bags and pillows were. After sleeping in a crowded car for days on end, even something as simple as a tent and sleeping bag was a blessing.  
They spent almost a week at the mall, recovering their strength and their own supplies while they tried to help whoever needed it. Seraphina had made friends with a group of children during their stay, Pippa among them. There were two other girls and four boys, two of which Kozmotis thought were twins. Kozmotis often saw Katherine around, sometimes bringing in more people as refugees and patients. He noticed Nightlight seemed to follow the young woman around.  
They couldn’t stay there forever, though. While the mall was full of food and supplies, it was also full of people. There were also windows covering a large part of the exterior, leaving the building vulnerable. It would be better for them to get out sooner rather than later before something went wrong. Upon Tatiana’s request, they all agreed to stay one more night, just to gather their things and prepare to leave.  
Kozmotis was walking back from the mattress store on their last night by himself. Aster had left a little early to help his wife with a few last minute adjustments. They would be leaving early in the morning. As he passed the chairs, he watched in amusement as North was talking and gesturing animatedly at Sandy, who seemed to be indulging the big man by letting him talk. Jack was playing with one of the boys Seraphina was friends with. Then he frowned, looking around carefully. His stomach twisted as panic began to set in.  
“Excuse me.” Kozmotis said loudly, catching the attention of several people nearby. “Has anyone seen my daughter? Where is Seraphina?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very fond of cliffhangers, if you couldn't already tell. Sorry if this chapter is so short and dull. Reviews are always welcome.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeeeeey, I finally updated! When I said not to expect frequent updates, I didn't really mean a two year hiatus. I'm sorry. But here you are. Today, the sex backpack makes its first appearance. Exciting, yes? Hopefully, this chapter will have more action. Also, I’ve got a few things planned so Tatiana can be awesome for a change. Also, we’re going to play ‘How Many People Can Kozmotis Fit in One Car’. Probably a lot.  
> Anyway, please enjoy.

Heads turned and the people in the area murmured amongst themselves. Nobody had seen her recently. Jack brought his play mate and the other children to Kozmotis, looking at him with a mix of confusion and worry. “What’s going on?” the blonde boy-Monty-asked as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “My daughter. Have any of you seen her?” The general was near frantic. He couldn’t lose his only child! He had promised to protect her! How could this have happened!? One of the brothers, perhaps Claude, piped up. “Sera and Sophie, Jamie’s little sister, said they were going to go exploring.” The boy gestured behind him with his thumb to a bridge where nobody had set up camp yet, glancing around at his peers for confirmation and they all nodded.

  
On a closer look, Kozmotis could see that yes, the little blonde girl was gone as well. Katherine came up behind him once she got wind of the commotion. “I’m sure they’ll be fine. This isn’t the first time Sophie has wandered off. They’ll be back by morning.”

  
The reassurance did nothing to quell his panicked thoughts. “That may be, but I would rather go find them and make sure they’re safe.” He had a bad feeling about this. “I will come with you, yes? Two little girls are probably handful for only one person to find.” North said. Kozmotis nodded, lightly patting the gun at his hip before they went off toward the bridge in search of the missing children. Their footsteps were practically deafening in the relative silence of the hallways, the voices from the town growing silent the further they went. “Seraphina?” He called peering through the gaping entryways of the stores. “Sweetheart, can you hear me?”  
In this lighting, the storefronts looked like dark, yawning mouths. Hungry, wide open things. Waiting to swallow them up. In his already paranoid mind, every little noise or flickering shadow could mean danger .

  
They kept walking, calling out for the little girls every so often. Down to the end of the hall and around the corner, the sound of another human voice made Kozmotis nearly jump out of his skin. “Seraphina?” He was tempted to run toward the voice, but North’s heavy hand on his arm made him stop. The big man held up a thick finger, signaling silence. Something was definitely wrong.

  
They heard more muffled cries. “Daddy! Daddy help!” The voice sobbed. Another voice was crying, too; practically shrieking. It was coming from… the lingerie store, if he wasn’t mistaken. Cautiously, they stepped inside, Kozmotis with his heart in his throat. The lights were low, making it hard to see, and the two of them had to squint to see before their eyes adjusted. Kozmotis could see racks of nightgowns, tables of bras and panties, manikins modeling some of the more popular apparel…

  
…Except Kozmotis was pretty sure that last one wasn’t a manikin. For one thing, it was pressed up against one of the cabinets and for another thing, it just moved. North flinched when thudding came from the cabinet. “Daddy! Daddy, we’re here! We’re stuck!” That was definitely his daughter. Another voice piped up after Seraphina. “There’s lots of them!” That must have been the other little girl Sera had wondered off with. From what he could see, there were at least two zombies at the cabinet. Then North tapped his shoulder and pointed to the back corner where a third zombie staggered out of the dressing room area. It looked like it was trailing lingerie—it must have walked right through a display. Also, it had a leg in its mouth. A real leg, not a manikin leg. It noticed the two of them standing in the entryway and made an interested sound. The two that had been scratching at the cabinet door turned around and cocked their heads jerkily like a pair of curious, warped dogs. They were draped in filmy, lacy garments as well.

  
In that moment, almost hysterically, Kozmotis realized several things. One, zombies wearing lingerie was really very disturbing and he wished he could unsee it. Two, there were zombies running loose in the mall, eating some and zombifying others. Three, this was almost certainly due to the complete and utter lack of quarantine procedures observed at the mall entrances. Nobody had actually asked them to prove that they hadn’t been bitten, now that he thought about it. And four, those zombies would recognize them as easier prey than the two girls in the cupboard in about point two seconds.

  
Lovely.

  
Kozmotis wouldn’t even consider running if it meant abandoning his daughter. They could always use their guns, but there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t accidentally hit the girls. Besides that, he wasn’t sure they could hit all three zombies before at least one of them got close enough to bite.

  
And then North took him completely by surprise. The big man just picked up a top half only manikin modeling a bra and started swinging as all three zombies rushed for them, charging clumsily through more displays and coming out trailing even more underwear. That small part of his brain with the most inappropriate timing had him thinking that these were the least sexy underwear models he had ever seen, hands down. Kozmotis quickly pushed that thought away and grabbed the closest thing at hand—a broken clothing rack—and ran to help North beat off the zombies. North nearly sent one of them flying into him with what must have been a hard kick to the gut. Kozmotis bashed it over the head to keep it down, only for the broken part of the rack to get stuck in the zombie’s head. Huh. Well, it was probably dead now.

  
Another zombie gave up on North, who looked almost like he was dancing as he kept the third zombie at bay. Without thinking, Kozmotis yanked a drawer free from one of the display tables and began beating the creature with all his might. The other man had obviously come to the conclusion that a manikin would not, in fact, actually kill a zombie and had found his own drawer.

  
About a minute later, once the red haze had cleared from his mind, Kozmotis dropped his improvised weapon and looked around. He found himself standing in the midst of blood and brain splattered overpriced underwear, with North standing somewhat off to the side. He looked up and made eye contact with North, huffing out a breath. “You… are surprisingly light on your feet.” Kozmotis said to him after a minute of just breathing. They both turned their heads when they heard the cupboard door creek open, revealing two terrified but unharmed little girls.

  
Kozmotis clutched his daughter tightly in his arms, making sure North had the other girl, Sophie. “We need to get back and warn the others.” Kozmotis said with a frown. All four of them left the store to find their group, but halfway back to the town, they could hear screaming.

  
The ‘town’ looked like a scene out of a horror movie. Apparently the lack of quarantine at the entrance and no particular method of keeping tabs on the residents of the mall had resulted in a perfect zombie breeding ground. At least one of the zombies bred in the remote corners of the mall had seen the injured group in the mattress store as choice pickings. Everyone that had been in the mattress store, including Ombric and maybe even Pippa he realized with a sinking feeling, had been eaten or made into new zombies. One staggered after a group of screaming people despite his crushed chest and broken legs. Another propelled herself forward with her hands and dragged her mangled lower half behind her.

  
They were all making surprisingly good time after their prey, all things considered.

  
Kozmotis flinched and tried to pull away when something grabbed his arm. It was only Aster, but his face was grim. “This situation is out of control.” Aster growled as he scanned the chaos around them. “We can’t do anything for these people. We have to leave right now.”

  
Although a sharp pang of guilt curled in his belly, Aster was right. The best they could do was round up their group and get out of the mall as fast as possible. He followed after the Australian at a dead sprint, looking out for other members of their group. Nightlight joined up with them at some point and had gone ahead to clear a path for them. The next time Kozmotis looked up, he saw North running from—or was that leading?—an entire pack of zombies. Yeah, it definitely looked like North was leading them.

  
It looked like he was making his way to the sim room, the horde in hot pursuit. At the door, Kozmotis watched as the big man suddenly veered off, and the zombies, attracted by the sounds of the games inside the room, kept going.

  
North managed to start catching up with them, looking back to see if he was still being followed. Kozmotis watched in horror as another zombie came barreling out of the coffee shop and right into North. The man was sent reeling backwards and his head took a hard blow against the edge of a potted plant. He could see blood pooling around North’s head already.

  
He cursed under his breath as he ran to help. Kozmotis barely registered the shot from Nightlight’s gun that blew the coffee shop zombie’s head off.  
“Make sure the others get to the car!” He shouted to Aster. He dropped to his knees and gingerly dragged North up into a sitting position against the concrete pot. The big man didn’t even stir. Kozmotis could see the gash on the side of North’s head. He most likely had a concussion to go with it.  
As quickly as he could, Kozmotis pulled off his shirt to use as a compress to slow the bleeding. He hoped it wasn’t too serious, but he knew North wouldn’t be awake any time soon. Someone would have to help carry him back to the car, though. “Here, I’ve got ‘im.” Aster knelt and pulled one of North’s arms over his shoulder. Kozmotis followed suit and took the man’s other side. Together, they dragged him out of the mall and to the car, Nightlight covering them from behind to keep the zombies at bay. Nightlight, however, stopped at the car door and stepped back. “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Aster shouted once he was inside the car. “Get in!”

  
Nightlight just shook his head with a sad smile and rolled up with sleeve without a word. A festering bite mark marred the young man’s pale arm. Aster could only stare with wide eyes. Kozmotis didn’t trust himself to say anything, but his expression must have given something away. “At least you can get out.” Nightlight said quietly. “Now go.”

  
A gunshot exploded behind them as they drove out of the parking lot.

  
Kozmotis only noticed that there were more people in the car when they began to cry. They were some of the children from the mall. Of course, Pippa, the girl from the mattress store, was squished in with the lot. He was glad that she’d made it out of the mattress store. She was half turned in her part of the seat, fussing over the blonde boy’s—Monty’s—broken glasses. Apparently, the boy had tripped on his way to the car and broken them, along with a tooth that he insisted had been loose before they’d had to run. Tatiana simply sat among the children, looking each of them over with tired eyes. Kozmotis could only assume that she was the reason all of them were here now.

  
It had been… quite a night. Many of the people in the car looked both sick and exhausted.

  
Finally, after driving like hell for what felt like hours, Kozmotis finally pulled over and just let himself breath. “That was way too close.” Jack spoke up after a minute or two of silence. “It really was,” Tatiana agreed. “I don’t think we should try any other shelter or populated area. There’s just too much risk. But what can we do?” “I think I know a place.” Kozmotis said. “It will take a while, but we can drive to a dock and go to Long Island.” Aster raised a brow at the idea, leaning forward into the front seat. “Y’mean go where some of the patients in the mattress store were talking about.” Before Kozmotis could defend his idea from Aster’s dubious tone, Jack jumped in. “Well sure. Why not? I mean, the risk of an infestation should be pretty low on an island, and so is the risk of crazy refugees.”

  
“I don’t think the main port is too far away. And it shouldn’t be too hard to find a boat.” Tatiana said with a wan smile. Sandy nodded his head vigorously in agreement from where he was sitting with North. It took some finagling with a glovebox map to find the smartest route to get to the water. Aster wanted to take the main road, citing that it would be faster if they took the most direct road. Jack argued for the back roads, since they would be more likely to avoid abandoned cars that were clumped together or zombies from any nearby establishments. It was amusing to see Jack bounce back and hold his own against the Australian. In the end, to Aster’s eternal displeasure, Tatiana agreed with Jack and marked out their route. Decision made, Kozmotis was more than happy to let Aster’s wife drive for a while, since she seemed to know the way. Jack moved with him to the back seats in the car and settled in as they started to move again.

  
Kozmotis tilted his head as he leaned back against the seat. “When did you pick that up?” He asked, staring down at the bright blue backpack resting across Jack’s lap. It looked pretty full from the way the fabric pulled against the zipper seams. Curiously, the young man’s eyes went wide and he tightened his grip on the straps, as if he was afraid the bag would be taken from him. “Oh. Um… Well, you know. Back at the mall. It’s just supplies. Just stuff that I thought might be useful.” His pale hands twisted the straps as his eyes flitted all over the place in an attempt to avoid eye contact. Kozmotis frowned, taken a bit off guard by the odd behavior, but quick shrugged it off. Jack’s behavior made him suspicious, but he doubted that pressing for information would do him any favors. Besides, he didn’t want to make Jack any more uncomfortable than he already was. “Smart of you, Jack. It never hurts to be prepared.” Kozmotis said lightly, hoping to soothe him. He wasn’t sure it helped.

  
Jack swallowed and squirmed in his seat. “Haha, yeah. Prepared. But uh, what about you? What happened to your shirt?” The general huffed out a laugh and looked down at himself. “North has it. It was all I could think of at the moment to stop the bleeding after he hit his head.” It wasn’t like they didn’t have other clothes stashed way somewhere in one of the many bags they’d accumulated. At least he hoped so. It wouldn’t be very practical or safe to run around without a shirt for the rest of their expedition. He sighed and shrugged. There wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it.

  
Sandy, once he had seen to North, moved to entertain the children in Titania’s place by teaching them the alphabet in sign. They seemed to appreciate the distraction after the nightmare that was their escape from the mall. They giggled as he helped them shape their hands to spell and started up a game of fingerspelling words to each other and Sandy. But it was late and way past most of the kid’s bedtimes, and they were yawning more and more, eyes drooping and attention waning. Even Aster struggled to keep his eyes awake, and Kozmotis knew he wasn’t long for the waking world, either.

  
Tatiana glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled. She continued to drive as the car mostly fell silent while the passengers settled and fell asleep. The road stretched on before them all in the darkness, but Tatiana allowed herself to hope. They could do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody please leave reviews! I hope you enjoyed, and I look forward to writing more!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, an update! I know this is slow going, but I do appreciate those of you who take the time to read this. Hope you enjoy!

Kozmotis jerked awake suddenly from a strange dream. He couldn’t quite recall what it was he’d been dreaming about, but he felt disoriented and unsettled. He blinked a few times and tried to move his arm so he could rub at his eyes, only to find both arms pinned. One by Jack, who was also half sprawled in his lap, and the other by Sandy. Sandy must have switched seats sometime in the night. The general sighed and tuned his attention to the window. Grey light was just beginning to peek out over the horizon.

“Sleep alright?” Tatiana said to him from the front seat. He met her eyes through the rear-view mirror and shrugged as best he could. “Well enough. Were you driving all night?” 

“No. Sandy drove for a few hours. Though I’m not sure he has a valid license…” Tatiana trailed off, but she didn’t seem terrible bothered. He supposed worrying about legalities wasn’t a priority in the apocalypse. “Anyway, you might want to start waking the others. We’re almost there.”

Tatiana was right. In the pre-dawn light, he could see the abandoned streets of the port town they were in. Kozmotis struggled for a minute or two to get at least one of his arms free so he could nudge Jack and Sandy awake. Sandy took a lot more effort to wake than Jack, who flailed and stammered something unintelligible after he realized he’d been using Kozmotis as a pillow. Once he calmed down a bit, Jack put himself over the seat and to the trunk of the car to get him a new shirt. He gave Jack a small smile after he pulled the shirt on over his head. 

Gradually, they managed to get everyone else up. The children were about as easy to wake as Sandy had been. North, much to Kozmotis’ private relief, woke easily and seemed coherent enough. Aster took the driver’s seat before they went any further. If they wanted to get through the town they would have to be careful. The only light they had was the grey light of dawn and dim street lamps. There were probably zombies swarming around, too. 

“Well, this could be fun…” Aster grumbled as he eased the car forward into the main part of town. Kozmotis couldn’t actually tell if he was being serious or sarcastic. They drove down the main street and everyone peered out the windows, either to gawk at the ruined city streets or to keep watch for zombies. Or both. While the main street was certainly a more direct route to the dock, it was more out in the open. 

Kozmotis shifted uncomfortably as they rolled down the street. There was no sign of anyone, living or dead. He held a sort of half hope that the zombies had run out of prey here and moved on. 

The car engine sounded horrifyingly loud in the otherwise quiet town and Kozmotis cringed every time Aster put any pressure on the gas pedal. 

The street turned off in a sloping curve and Kozmotis was drawn out of his mind when Aster cursed. He leaned forward over the seat in front of him to get a better look out the windshield and frowned. The street was blocked by a cluster of crumpled cars.

“Looks like people tried to get out of city, but were not careful about driving,” North commented from the middle row. From what Kozmotis could see, it looked like several cars had tried to swerve around the mess, but only ended up making it worse. It completely blocked their path. This, Kozmotis realized, was probably the accident that the people in the mattress store came from.

Aster cursed again, more frustrated than before. “I can see the port right past these damn cars! It’s right fucking there!” The Australian threw his hands up and thumped his head back against the headrest. “Now what? There’s no way to drive through that mess.” It was a testament to how worried she was that Tatiana didn’t chastise Aster about his language like she usually did.

“What’s gonna happen to us?” one of the boys whimpered. Claude, Kozmotis thought.

“We could try to walk through.” North said. He looked almost proud of himself for suggesting that. “Dock is just past these cars, yes? Then we can get on boat and to safety.” Except nobody else seemed comfortable at the idea of getting out of the car just yet. Tatiana twisted around in her seat to look out the back window, maybe to try to spot a better route to the docks.

“Go back to the last intersection we went past.” She finally said. “We should make sure there’s no other way around before we leave the car behind. We need to be sure we have no other options first.”

Sandy was nodding and the children began to look more at ease with that idea. Kozmotis heard Jack let out a shaky sigh as Aster backed away from the pile-up. He put a reassuring hand on Jack’s arm. “We’ll be alright.” He told the young man quietly. 

As they turned onto the cross street, Kozmotis noticed something. The air was becoming warmer as they drove, even though the windows were all up and the fan was on.

They hadn’t even gotten all the way around the corner before they saw it, the reason for the heat. Fire, wild and bright, arched into the sky. From a distance, it probably looked like regular lights, and they wouldn’t have seen the smoke very well in the dark. Form a hundred yards or so down the street, Kozmotis could see the cause of the fire. A gasoline truck was overturned and on fire. It must have been on the way to deliver to a local service station.  
“The whole street is on fire.” Jamie said wonderingly. It was pretty clear by then that they would not be going that way. 

“The street keeps going a few hundred yards in the other direction.” Jack said, looking out the window on his side. “It looks like it goes around a corner, but it’s not on fire.” He joked weakly, blue eyes tired and a little wild looking.

“Hold that thought,” Aster said. “There’s something moving up there, and I don’t think it’s friendly. We don’t want to draw any attention to ourselves if we can avoid it. I think our best bet is going back to the main street and making a dash for the docks.” With that, he turned the car around and started back toward the wreck of cars.  
Aster parked the car as close as he dared to the wreck and everyone piled out. Each person took a bag or two from the trunk and armed themselves with whatever weapons they still had. Jack had his bright blue backpack on and a satchel slung over one shoulder. There was a pistol in his hand. 

Good boy, Kozmotis thought. 

With one last look at the car that had faithfully seen them through the horrors of Zombiepocalypse, Kozmotis turned away and began to wind his way through the stranded vehicles after the group. They kept the children clustered in the middle where they would be safest. He, Aster, and North looked carefully into the windows of each car they passed after Jack made the comment of “This would be about the time in those movies when the zombies come piling out of nowhere after hiding in the cars or something.”

Some of the children, Jamie in particular, had found that funny. The adults had not. Aster shot Jack a nasty look before looking into a car window.  
Kozmotis paused as he passed a small green Toyota. There was movement that caught his eye. A pair of chubby little hands were just visible in the back-seat window. He was absolutely horrified at the thought of someone just leaving their baby in the car before they ran.

It would be unthinkable to just leave the poor baby there. So, probably against better judgement, Kozmotis stopped and unlatched the door as quietly as possible. He glanced up to see that no one else had seen him stop. He should probably pick up the pace.

Kozmotis swung the door open and pushed to front seat forward, stooping down to lift the baby out. He yelped and scrambled back so quickly he fell backwards. While much smaller than a typical zombie, it was still definitely a zombie. 

It wasn’t the least bit cute, either, Kozmotis thought wildly as he stood up to look back inside the car. Its bald little head had a huge bite taken out of it where the soft spot was, and there was brain matter caked down the sides of its chubby face. As the baby reached for him, Kozmotis could see that the thumb on its right hand was missing. It was actually hanging out of the baby’s mouth. 

It must have come off as the baby gnawed on it like some sort of flesh pacifier.

By now, the rest of the group had turned to see what the commotion was. Aster was staring at him like he had gone off the deep end.

The zombie baby began to throw a little zombie tantrum as it strained to bite the general from its car seat. Its little hands flailed uselessly as its face contorted in hunger. 

It would be funny if it weren’t so… completely not funny. Maybe he had gone off the deep end.

It finally occurred to Kozmotis that the noise would attract the zombie parents. Or any other zombie in the area. As he pushed the front seat back into position, the baby twisted in its seat and tried to lunge for him

Kozmotis jumped back and slammed the door shut, slamming its little fingers in the frame. Under other circumstances, he would have felt bad about that, but as it stands, not so much. 

He caught up to the rest of the group to dodge through the remaining cars. He felt Aster’s glare on him the whole way through. Thankfully, the road ahead looked clear enough. Something made a noise from behind them, though. A noise that wasn’t from the children or any of the adults in their group. With a cringe, Kozmotis turned as everyone else clustered together, hoping against hope that it was just the baby’s tantrum.

It wasn’t.

There was the zombie horde Jack had joked about, about two dozen in number. They looked to be trailing feathers and fur and other parts from scavenged animals. They were rapidly staggering toward the cars, drawn by the screaming baby. 

“Great job, General Pitchiner.” Aster sneered at him. “Made it this far only to get eaten because you just had to try to be the hero.”

Kozmotis rounded on him to snarl back, only to be taken off guard when Tatiana yanked the shot gun out of Aster’s hands. He looked just as shocked at his wife’s action. She lifted the gun and took aim at a truck in the pile-up carrying propane tanks. 

“Down.” Kozmotis said quietly at first. “Get down!” he darted to the others, pushing as many of the children down as he could. North and Sandy were quick to follow. There was no time for the rest of them to take cover. The zombies were coming fast.

A second later, she fired. The horde charged through the cars and in front of the truck, only to be blown away with a rush of fire. It was the perfect shot at the exact right moment.

The explosion knocked the rest of them off their feet. Even from here, Kozmotis felt singed. His ears were ringing. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t see. He was alone in the dark. It felt like forever. But then, he was vaguely aware of someone trying to grab his hands. Whoever they were had cold fingers. 

Things came back in increments. Kozmotis’ breathing evened out and he didn’t feel so detached from his body. His vision cleared and the worried faces of Jack and his daughter came into focus. He looked down and found that Jack was the one holding his hands. Last to come back was his hearing. All around him, people were asking each other if they were alright. There was a fire roaring in the background.

With Jack’s help, Kozmotis sat up and looked around. He spotted Aster and Tatiana checking each other over. Aster looked about like how Kozmotis felt. Explosions were not exactly happy things for most, but especially not for members of the military.

On a second sweep, he saw zombie parts littering the entire street. Some parts of them were even on fire. “Are you alright?” Jack asked tentatively. He glanced between the young man and Seraphina, taking a moment to process the question. “I think… I will be.” 

“That… was freaking awesome!” Pippa cheered once everyone started to get up. All of the older children cheered their own agreements. 

Aster and Tatiana finally stumbled over to the rest of them, each looking a little on the charred side. “We need to go.” Tatiana said in a wavering voice. “I agree.” North piped from the other side of their group. “Big noise like that will attract any zombie in ten-mile radius.” 

So, burnt and haggard, they made their way to a dollar store on the corner. Sandy was the one to pick the lock and push the door open for them and slam the door shut once everyone was inside. This wasn’t a permanent solution, but it would buy them time. Kozmotis went to the back of the store to inspect the door there, that led to a quiet and deserted alleyway. 

He just stood there for a moment. They were in a dollar store in the middle of an infested city. Were they really going to make it out, or were they just running on borrowed time? 

Kozmotis turned his back to the wall and sunk down, resting his head on his knees to hide his face. For the first time since they set out, Kozmotis allowed himself to despair. 

On the other side of the store, he could hear Tatiana berating Aster for the way he’d spoken earlier. But maybe Aster was right. He’d put their entire group in danger for the sake of trying to save a baby. A baby they never would have been able to care for. 

When he looked up, he could see the children trying on sunglasses from the counter and trying to strike cool poses. Some were more successful than others. Jack was sitting on the floor with Sandy, laughing over pictures the shorter man was showing off.

North was watching at the door, gun in one hand and a… a sword in the other. When had North picked that up? 

He blinked when he felt a pair of small arms wrap around his shoulders. Seraphina had come over while he wasn’t watching. She pressed her face into his shoulder when he dropped his knees and pulled her close. “We’re gonna be okay, daddy.” She mumbled. “We’re almost there.” Kozmotis felt his eyes burn a little at the simple reassurance his daughter was offering. That’s right. He was doing this for her. He promised he would keep her safe. And he would.

“That’s right, sweetheart. Almost there. We can do it.” He smiled when she pulled away. It was time to get up and keep moving. 

Once everyone had been called over, Kozmotis opened the back door and stepped outside, warily looking around as he did. From what he could see, the alley served several shops and went down a fair ways. He couldn’t see where it ended, and therefore couldn’t see if the alley was enclosed or not. He hesitated for a second before motioning everyone out. Slowly and as quietly as possible, they began edging down the alleyway.

Along the way, they pass by the back entrances of several shops, including a Starbucks. Damn, did Kozmotis miss coffee. Everyone went deathly still at the sound of crashing glass behind them. At this point, speed would be a better friend to them than stealth. The group made a dash for the end of the alley.

Kozmotis felt his stomach drop when they alley ended in a wall. It was a little over ten feet high. Not something they could climb over without a boost. But that would take time they didn’t have, and someone would have to be pulled over. Risky. Too Risky.

The sound of more breaking glass reaches them from further down the alley. Something was making its way toward them, which was very likely not a good thing. A quick scan of the alley revealed plenty of debris lying around. It looked like some of the trash bags had been torn open and rummaged through. The last door looked like it led to a pharmacy, but when Kozmotis tried the handle, it was firmly locked. Sandy’s attempt at picking this lock revealed that the door was also sealed shut somehow. Probably bolted shut.

But… There was a louvered window above the door. It looked old and possibly brittle. If they window was broken, one of the children might be able to fit through and open the door for them.

They were out of time. A group of zombies shuffled around the corner. They moaned and tilted their heads, watching the group curiously. More zombies joined them.  
“Well shit.” Aster gulped. “End of the line.” The colonel slowly reached for the gun in his holster. 

“Not yet.” Kozmotis grabbed an errant brick and hurled it at the window. As he’d hoped, the window shattered. He was surprised to see Aster actually smile at that.  
“We’ll have to boost the kiddies up. None of us grownups can fit. Someone will have to hold the zombies off.” Aster said, finally drawing his gun. There were more zombies filing into the alley. 

Kozmotis looked to Tatiana beseechingly. She would be their best bet at convincing one of the children to go to through the window. She pinched her lips, eyes hard. But she nodded. They had to do this, or they would all die here.

Tatiana dropped to her knees next to the children. “Okay. I know this is going to sound scary, but I need one of you to climb through that window up there. That way we can open the door and get away.” All of the children blanched. “What! We can’t do that!” Cupcake cried. “Yeah, what if there are zombies one the other side?” Caleb chimed in.

That… was a good point. But Tatiana handled it well. “That’s true. We don’t know if there are zombies on the other side. But there are zombies on this side. Bad things are going to happen if we stay here.”

When the kids still looked apprehensive, she continued. “Think of it this way. If they’re all on this side of the door, then there won’t be any on the other side, right?”  
Finally, Monty stepped up, face white and eyes wide with fear. “I-I’ll do it. I can o-open the door.”

Quick as a blink, North boosted the little boy up so he could get through the window. Monty complained at the shards digging into him as he went through, though he hurried his pace when Aster yelled at him to “Unlock that door right now, kid, or we're all gonna be wishing we only had plastic bits stuck in us!” The boy yelped when he hit the ground on the other side of the door. 

Kozmotis heard the sound of a sliding bolt before the door swung open. Everyone flung themselves through the door the second it was open. Monty, dear boy, slammed the door shut as soon as everyone was in and pushed the bolt back into place.

North gave the boy a hard slap on the back that sent him keeling forward. “Good job, Monty! You are true lifesaver!” Monty, once he got back on his feet, smiled sheepishly, and went to go rejoin the other children.

Aster stopped Kozmotis as he was looking over the rest of the group. “Do I have time to grab a few things?” the Australian asked, gesturing to the shelves in the store. Kozmotis nodded. “I think that would be a good idea. Grab whatever you can.” Aster made quick work of gathering bandages, medicine, and whatever else was left in the pharmacy. With a heavy sigh, Kozomtis went to the front of the pharmacy to scan the streets.

Everything looked clear. He supposed the zombies must have wandered off for easier pickings. Or they were all gathered in the alley outside the store. Either way, the coast was clear and they needed to move on.

“Alright everyone,” the general murmured, watching as everyone turned their heads. “It looks about as safe as it’s going to get out there. Time to go.”  
He carefully pulled the front door open, mindful of what used to be a doorbell. It stayed blessedly quiet. Kozmotis made sure to doub;e-check their surroundings as he stepped out before he stepped off to the side to motion the others through. Everyone quickly pressed themselves against the wall. The children managed to wedge themselves behind their adult of choice.

When nothing jumped out at them, they all ran for the docks. 

Kozmotis could see boats bobbing on the water as the docks came into view. The buildings fell away and the open, cloudy sky filtered beams of light upon them. The grey water lapping at the boats beckoned them to freedom.

They made it.

Well, almost. But there couldn’t be that much left between them and safety. 

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Cliffhanger!!! Tune in next time to see if they can actually make it off the mainland! Comments and kudos make me feel wonderful and encourage me to write.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we see some character development. And not for the better. Enjoy this fight scene that's been on my mind for a while. I've been writing all this angry tension between Aster and Kozmotis but I feel like it hasn't gone anywhere serious. So I made it go somewhere serious. High stress plus anger equals drama.

Most of the boats at the dock were too small to fit their entire group. This far in, Kozmotis was leery of splitting into smaller groups, considering numbers had helped them out so far. He saw some of the children fawning over a speedboat. It was bright red and sparkled when the light hit it. It was a pretty boat, but not all that practical. It probably couldn’t even carry all of their bags, much less all of them. 

“Kozmotis! Hey, Kozmotis!” Jack jogged up to him, looking excited as ever. His eyes were brighter than Kozmotis had seen them in a while. “The ferry is still on the mainland dock. We can use that, can’t we? It’s a little further down, but it should be safe.” Kozmotis gave the young man a relieved smile and reached up to give his shoulder a squeeze. “That sounds perfect. Let’s just round everyone up and be on our way. The children may not be happy, though.” They had their hearts set on that speedboat. And from the way Jack looked at it now, it seemed he had just a touch of longing as well. 

As expected, the children were reluctant to give up the idea of taking the speedboat. Even his own daughter was against him. “But daddy… I like this boat. It’s sparkly.” She pouted up at him and crossed her arms. She looked so serious, but also a little ridiculous. Her hair was tangled wildly about her face and her clothes were horribly mismatched. Jack snickered behind him. 

“Yes, it is a sparkly boat, but it’s too small, sweetheart. We’re going to ride the ferry.” He knelt down so he was more level with her. “You used to beg me to ride the ferry every time I had time off. So we’re finally going to do that. Doesn’t that sound fun?” She didn’t give any kind of verbal response, but her face relaxed into something less like a pout and she reached up in a wordless demand to be picked up. He smiled and lifted her up, standing straight as she wound her arms around his neck. 

The aged vessel Jack led them to has obviously seen better days, but ferries were almost always well stocked. It could have had coffee, too. Kozmotis really missed coffee and he really, really wanted some. They ferry would likely be slow, but it would be steady and a lot more fuel efficient than any of their other options. Not to mention it was a lot bigger. 

No light in the cabins. No light on the deck. No light in the wheelhouse. The only sounds were their footfalls and the groan of the ferry as it rocked in the water. “Looks pretty dead to me.” Jack said with a cheeky grin. Aster shot him a disgusted look and snapped, “This is no time to joke.” But Jack didn’t seem to be so affected by Aster’s bad attitude anymore. “Hey, sometimes jokes are all that keep you going in bad times.” The young man shrugged and sidled closer to Kozmotis. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Seraphina and Jack share a grin. 

Everyone crept onto the boat, cringing every time the planks creaked under their feet. Nothing else moved on board, but that didn’t mean something wasn’t hiding in the shadows.

Sandy and North both slipped off to the wheelhouse. Kozmotis wanted to go with them, if only so he could try to be useful, but he knew he would have only gotten in their way. He knew nothing about boat mechanics. 

Surprisingly, things went smoothly enough. Kozmotis wandered the ferry while everyone waited for North and Sandy to get it started up. He finally put Seraphina down when she began to squirm and watched as she ran off to join Sophie in some game or other. 

Tatiana was watching the group of kids while they played, a small smile on her face. He watched while Aster went back down the ramp to free the ferry from its moorings. Kozmotis lingered for a minute just to watch the children. They were unbelievably resilient, and still had a surprising amount of energy. Ah, to be young.   
He was jolted out of his thoughts by the sound of the grinding engine. A few of the lights came on, but not much else happened. It sounded like Sandy and North weren’t having too much luck getting the boat started. Hopefully they could figure it out soon; the lights and the sound of the engine trying to start up would attract attention sooner or later.

A minute later, a frustrated looking North pushed the wheelhouse door open. The big man paused and ran his eyes over all the expectant faces that turned toward him. “It seems like there is some problem in the engine room that won’t let engine start.” North said slowly, obviously not happy to admit that they had another problem to deal with. “Is typical in a distributed control environment like this for each sub-system to lock out other subsystems, so there must be something wrong in the engine room that is stopping us from starting engine up.”

North was already grabbing a flashlight from one of the bags they brought on and was walking toward the stairs to the engine room. “We should head down and figure it out. Then we can…” His voice faded out as he descended. “Shouldn’t someone go with him, just in case something is down there?” Jack frowned, fingering the small pistol in his waistband. 

Aster had the misfortune of coming back aboard just as Jack said this. “Well, are we leaving or not?” he grumbled, glancing from the wheelhouse to his wife and finally to Kozmotis. The general paused before giving the other man a wicked grin. 

“Colonel Bunnymund, thank you for volunteering. Go down to the engine room and make sure nothing kills North.” The look on Aster’s face was priceless. Kozmotis may or may not have been motivated by both his existing animosity with Aster and the hero comment from earlier. 

“You petty son of a—” “Aster!” Dear Tatiana, always looking out for the childrens’ innocent little ears. Kozmotis just raised his eyebrows and swept his hand to the staircase. With one last vitriolic look, Aster grabbed his gun and stormed down the stairs. Tatiana looked a little disapproving, but she didn’t say anything. They had enough problems without starting arguments about group tension. She sighed and turned her attention back to the children. Jack had gone to sit with Jamie and a few of the older children as soon as Aster left. 

After a minute more of standing on the deck, Kozmotis went to go sort what they had left and keep an eye on the streets beyond the dock. Hopefully they would have enough supplies to get settled on the island. Food, water, weapons and ammunition, clothing. They had a little of each, at least. And then there was Jack’s bright blue backpack. He still didn’t know what was in it. It couldn’t have normal supplies. Not when Jack seemed so cagey about the contents. 

Kozomtis had only just reached for one of the straps when the boat lurched with the grind of the engine. This time, it stayed on. Sandy burst out of the wheelhouse, waving and grinning like mad. North and Aster both came pounding up the stairs a few seconds later splitting off to the wheelhouse and Tatiana respectively. They were finally getting away from the mainland. 

Kozmotis didn’t really relax until he could see that they were out of jumping distance from port. While he could see Long Island within a few minutes, it didn’t seem like they were headed for just any part of the shore. Probably for the best, considering Long Island is—or was—pretty densely populated. If he had to guess, Kozmotis would say they were on course to Shelter Island. Leaning back against the rail, the general watched the churning water and the children. Some of them were beginning to look a little sea sick. So was Jack, actually. 

“Alright there, Jack?” Kozmotis called, tilting his head when Jack jumped and spun to face him. “Huh? Oh yeah! Ju-just fine!” He didn’t look fine. The young man’s face was somewhere between sickly green and deathly pale and he was swaying precariously in the middle of the deck. With a sigh, he got up and shuffled over to the boy, careful to mind the rocking of the boat on the waves so he didn’t fall on his face like an idiot. He held out his hand to Jack, ring glinting in the weak sunlight. “Come on. Better come to the rail if you feel sick.” When Jack’s face paled further, Kozmotis added, “I won’t let you fall in the water, I promise.” 

Jack allowed himself to be coaxed to the rail where Kozmotis had been sitting. He slumped between the rail and the bags with a groan, only to whip around to heave and retch over the side. Kozmotis frowned and dug a bottle of water out of the bag closest to him. Poor boy, he just didn’t seem suited to water travel. “We’ll be back on land soon enough.” He tried to sound reassuring as he held the bottle out to Jack when he sat up again. 

“Thanks…” Jack croaked, sipping at the water. Whatever peace there was couldn’t last. Of course not. But it wasn’t zombies this time. Aster finally stormed back up the stairs, face nearly purple with anger. And he was headed straight for Kozmotis. The general stood, ready to say… something. Just as he opened his mouth, Aster reared back and slammed a fist into his face and sent his reeling. Kozmotis may well have gone overboard if it weren’t for Jack grabbing his arm. 

His ears rung for moment. He blinked. Jack and maybe Tatiana were yelling about something, but he couldn’t quite make it out. Aster grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him forward so that they were nose to nose. “I’m getting real sick of your shit, Pitchiner. You ever pull that kind of stunt again, I swear I will fucking kill you myself.” 

Kozmotis may not get along with Bunnymund, but he wasn’t eager for a physical fight. He was exhausted already. But, to use the colonel’s words, he was also getting real sick of Aster’s shit. It seemed like Aster was always spoiling for a fight, provoked or otherwise.

“Back off, Bunnymund. I’ll do as I damn well please, whether you like it or not.” He curled his lip up and reached up to squeeze Aster’s wrist, making sure to dig his nails in hard. He twisted the wrist his grip, forcing Aster to let go. 

Aster shoved him back with his free hand. Kozmotis let go, but he made sure to leave a set of scratches on the man’s skin as he went. Kozmotis knew better than to let his guard down by now. Aster was going to try to fight him, regardless of what anyone tried to do or say. Tatiana had probably herded the children away first, and he could see that Jack had scrambled away and was huddled against the wall of the wheelhouse. 

Bunnymund came at him again, yelling a very emphatic “Fuck you!” along the way. Kozmotis ducked out of the way of a few more swings, maneuvering himself toward the center of the deck.

When Bunnymund made to grab his shirt again, he raised his hand to block so that the colonel had his wrist in a vice grip. Kozmotis kicked out at Aster’s knee and leaned back to pull himself free when Aster jumped back to avoid a boot to the leg and loosened his grip. The hand around his wrist was still tight enough that Aster’s fingers caught around his in an attempt to hold on.

It was enough for Aster’s fingers to slide over the ring on Kozmotis’ finger. He watched with a detached sort of horror as the gold band slipped from his finger. Aster saw it, too. The ring skittered over the deck and toward the open railing. 

He twisted and staggered after his ring, a sickening shot of adrenaline quickening his steps. He dove and met the railing just in time to watch his ring tip over the edge of the boat. Kozmotis stretched out his hand, fingertip just brushing the warm metal. 

His ring fell, shining brightly as it hit the murky water and was lost. Kozmotis stared at the water, eyes wide. Just like that, the last thing he had of his wife was gone.   
The deck was deathly quiet when Kozmotis finally moved away from the railing. He stood, forcing his face into a neutral expression. Aster swallowed and took a step back. Even if the loss of Kozmotis’ ring was unintentional, Aster knew he’d gone too far. Something ugly bubbled up along with the adrenaline. He couldn’t keep the mask in place. 

Kozmotis let his face contort into a menacing snarl and lunged at Aster. He grabbed the colonel and dragged him down onto the deck. 

Someone was screaming. It might have been Jack, calling for help. Or maybe Tatiana, who had come back from leading the children away. It was close by and horribly loud. 

Kozmotis clawed and punched at whatever vulnerable spot he could find, forcing Aster down whenever he tried to get away or fight back. He couldn’t feel anything, and his vision was starting to blur. Kozmotis wasn’t sure how long he beat Bunnymund, but it only stopped when something hit the back of his head, hard. Kozmotis remembered felt a pair of burly arms retraining him and lifting him away from Bunnymund. There were garbled voices and swirls of color.

And then there was nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone enjoyed. PLEASE, leave me comments and kudos. I live for them! They encourage me to write and let me know that people are still reading this.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woop woop, we're getting close to the end, I think! This one is a little bit of a short chapter, but I'm pretty happy with it. I'm turning Sandy into a bit of a deviant here. And somebody gets a shovel talk! Hope you all enjoy!

There was a cold hand against his face. Kozmotis frowned and tried to keep his eyes shut. He’d been dreaming again, and it was already slipping from his memory. He though he could hear his wife’s voice, but it was already faded and overlapped by someone else’s voice. Reluctantly, Kozmotis cracked his eyes open. Everything felt sore and his throat felt raw.

“Hey. Kozmotis. Are you up?” It was Jack. “We’re almost there, so you have to get up, okay.” The boy drew his hand away as the general grudgingly sat up and touched his feet to the ground. He stared down at his left hand, where there was a stripe of paler skin on his ring finger where his wedding band used to be. Frowning, Kozmotis resisted the urge to tough that stripe. It sent a heavy pang through his chest, to think that his ring was lost and at the bottom of the channel. He was a little shaky standing up, but was quick to right himself. Jack still looked a little sick, but not nearly as sick as before. He reached out to put a hand between Jack’s shoulder blades to walk with him up to the top deck. The stairs creaked under their combined weight.

The sun was just beginning to set, not quite touching the horizon when the ferry finally reached Shelter Island. Kozmotis blinked into the sun, pressing a hand more firmly against Jack’s back to keep himself oriented. He was glad they had stepped away from the stairwell when the ferry lurched. It seemed they had reached the shoreline rather abruptly. While Sandy and North could captain a boat, neither of them were capable of actually docking it apparently. After that, it was a race to unload all of the supplies they’d amassed before anything else could happen to the boat. Kozmotis felt a little like a pack mule by the time they had all of their bags and sorted out who would carry what. 

Though everyone managed to stumble off unscathed, the ferry wasn’t quite so lucky. The poor boat listed to one side, very visibly starting to sink. North must have driven it into the rocks hard enough to put a hole in the hull. Whatever the case may be, the ferry won’t be taking anymore passengers after that wild ride.

“Well…” North starts when everyone turns their eyes to him after watching the boat die a sad death. “Maybe this island will be wonderful, no?” To Kozmotis, Shelter Island was less than wonderful, but hey, everything was less than wonderful right now. The big man grinned and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Jack went over to give North a reassuring pat of the arm. “We can hope. Since, you know, we may be here for a while.” He said that, looking back at the shabby little boats lining the shore next to the ferry. Only one of them looked like it might take them back to the mainland, but it looked just as ramshackle as the other, smaller boats. Bunnymund let out a heavy sigh that turned into more of a groan toward the end. 

“We better find somewhere safe to stay,” Tatiana said gently, keeping most of the children gathered around her. “We don’t know what else could be out here.” Sera and Sophie wander over to Kozmotis though, his daughter taking one of his hands while Sophie wrapped an arm around his leg. He hoped he wouldn’t end up tripping over her. 

They all trudge up the sloping sand hills for what felt like hours, until they finally came upon a fine-looking house that would hold all of them comfortably. It had to be at least three stories tall, with multiple wings, some of which looked newer than the rest of the house. It looked like the kind of house one might find in a décor magazine for the rich and famous, to be frank. But the windows were dark, so whoever owned the house was gone. With some grumbling, they marched the rest of the way to the front of the house. The children looked like they all wanted to drop by the time they got to the door, and Kozmotis couldn’t blame them.

The house is practically theirs for the taking, but of course it can’t be that easy. Not even Sandy’s lockpicking skills can get the door to budge. Bunnymund cursed rather creatively after increasingly violent attempts to open the door, from throttling the doorknob to bodily throwing himself against the door, which looks to be made of solid oak. “That’s not going to get the door open,” Jack points out after another minute of watching Aster’s theatrics. “And you’re making a lot of noise.”   
Nobody noticed Sandy move around to one of the side windows until there was a great, uncomfortably loud crash. Sandy had taken one of the fancy flower pots on the porch and thrown it through the window. He was just picking up the shards to try to break through the shutters when everyone else came running. 

“Oh, so I was loud, but breaking a fucking window is fine!?” Aster was turning purple again. Kozmotis rolled his eyes. “Look, the only thing for it is to get through that window before anything else finds us.” He picked up a pot close to him to copy Sandy, and the two of them got to work on the locked shutters. Tatiana helped, too, after sending Aster a look equal parts stern and apologetic. Everyone else took up guard positions. The noise would probably scare any locals still here and attract any zombies in the area. They knew, at least, how the zombies would react. Frightened locals? Not so much.

Sandy took the final swing that sent the shutters splintering on their frame. He looked very pleased with himself as the children scrambled to start shoving bags through the window. Between one second and the next, Sandy was wiggling through the window to get in. He unlocked the door from the inside, so everyone could drag themselves and their bags inside.

It’s quick work to patch up the window Sandy broke. One or two of them would have to come back later to give it a more permanent repair, but it was better than just leaving a gaping hole on the first floor where anything could get in. It was dark by the time the house is scouted out and cleaned up a bit. The children delighted in being able to run around and stomp up and down the stairs. The safety of the house and the fact that said house had stairs did wonders for the childrens’ energy levels. There was something about stairs that just entertained young ones to no end. 

For the first time since the mall, they were all able to have a sit-down dinner rather than just cramming down whatever was fast and convenient in the car. Jack was quick to take the chair next to Kozmotis. It wasn’t anything extravagant—just emergency rations and non-perishables washed down with bottled water, but it was the best damn mean Kozmotis had eaten in a while. He was overjoyed when he found the box containing the coffee canisters while helping Sandy and Tatiana unpack their supplies after dinner. After that, he just wandered the house, not quite tired enough yet to just go to bed like most of the children and some of the other adults.   
The house creaked as Kozmotis drifted through the halls and up the stairs. They had made it to safety at last, and he could already feel some of the tension leaving his shoulders. They would be okay now. No more running, no more hiding. Tomorrow they would be able to better assess their situation for food and water, but their lives were no longer in immediate danger. It was a nice feeling. Maybe, when Kozmotis did finally go to bed, he would be able to sleep more soundly.

Kozmotis paused by a second story window to look up at the full moon. It felt like an eternity since the last time he’d had time to look out at the night; not since he stopped at Tatiana and Aster’s cottage with Jack and Seraphina. The moon had been absent that night. 

“Find everything okay?” North asked, stepping up beside the window next to the general. “Hm? Oh, yes.” The house was big enough to get lost in, but it was safe enough here to call for someone else if anyone did get lost. North was silent, and the mood, which had been relaxed and easy at first, quickly shifted with that silence. The air was charged, and North seemed to get a little more menacing. With some dread, Kozmotis turned his head to meet North’s intense stare. 

“I am noticing something over these last weeks.” North drew up to his full height to loom over Kozmotis. He wasn’t quite used to that. It was sometimes easy to forget he wasn’t the tallest person in the group. “Jack has been following very close to you, ever since the mall. I think he is very fond of you.” Kozmotis blinked a few times, at a loss for what to say. He knew North was, at the very least, a friend of the family to Jack, but he didn’t know North had been keeping such a keep eye on who Jack was interacting with. Though, he supposed he was the same with Seraphina and her friends.

“You are good man, family man, I know. Very loving to your daughter and other little ones here.” North spoke with a light tone, but the hand he dropped onto Kozmotis’ shoulder belied his seriousness. North gave Kozmotis’ shoulder a hard, near painful squeeze. “But you are also dangerous, stupid man. You keep grudges, you provoke people, you act too smart sometimes. But for some reason, Jack gives you his love. I know Jack is adult and he will do as he likes,” Here, North leaned forward so that their noses were almost touching. “But if he is ever hurt because of you, I will make zombies look like helpless little babies by comparison.” North would follow through on that, Kozmotis had no doubt. He had seen North fight, and he had no desire to be on the wrong side of North’s fists.

Was this… some kind of shovel speech? He thought a little desperately that, yes, it was. He was getting a shovel speech. From North. About Jack. Kozmotis gaped up at North, eyes wide as he fumbled for something to say. What could he say to that? He suddenly had confirmation about why Jack kept sticking so close and now he was being threatened for it. He didn’t even really know how he felt about Jack. 

He was saved from saying anything stupid when movement caught both their attentions. The window had a perfect view of the sandy slope and the moonlight is shining on the dark sea waves. It was also shining on the several hundred figures assembled along the beach. Some of them looked like they were already climbing the slope.

The way they’re moving, Kozmotis knew exactly what they are. So does North. 

They were all trapped on Shelter Island with all of its locals—locals who happen to be zombies. “How can this be!? The Island was supposed to be free if zombies!” North pressed himself against the window to get a better look at the massive horde.

Kozmotis had to wonder as well. But then he thought about the ramshackle boat big enough to go between the islands and the mainland. Someone must have used the boat and come back infected and spread it throughout the island. While Kozmotis thought, more zombies began to traverse the slope. He had no idea if all of the islanders are there on the beach, but there may as well be.

The zombie horde was already making good time, and they were coming right for the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! As always, I love comments. I have more free time now that school is out, so I hope to write more chapters soon.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're winding down, guys. I've planned for at least two more chapters, which I will hopefully have up before the start of the new semester. But we'll see. Anyway, enjoy some more probably negative character development.

Well, Kozmotis thought as he tore through the house to wake the others, once they kill all the zombies, they really will have the island to themselves. And it would be a decent place to stay, what with the space and the stockpile of food and supplies, not to mention a group full of capable people and the otherwise scenic view. While he wouldn’t consider himself a religious man, Kozmotis prayed to whatever was listening that this was the last hurdle they had to suffer through. He just wanted to buckle down, fight off the encroaching zombie hoard, and be safe for the rest of the stay here. 

He figured the all the noise they made earlier must have caught the attention of any zombie nearby. Kozmotis sort of regretted destroying a ground floor window to get in. Even if it was boarded up with the remains of the stutters, it wasn’t as secure as the other windows.

By now, everyone was either armed or tucked away safely, prepared as could be. “They haven’t crested the hill yet,” Tatiana said. There was a bit of a tremor in her voice. “We may just have enough time to set up traps, slow ‘em down a little,” Aster said as he came up behind his wife, putting a firm hand on her shoulder. Right. Traps would do wonders for them. It was a bit of a risk, especially if the zombies were hungry enough to move quickly. 

“I can go. I have some experience with laying traps.” Kozmotis stepped forward. Aster would have experience, too. Traps had been part of survival training. 

Grudgingly, the two gathered what they needed and walked to the door, though Kozmotis was waylaid by a tug at the hem of his shirt. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Jack was the one to hold him back. “Try not to get eaten, okay.” He could tell Jack wanted to ask him not to go. This was as close to a tentative ‘goodbye and be safe’ as the boy would say. Always one for deflecting, his Jack. Kozmotis gave him a wan smile before continuing after an impatient Bunnymund. He refused to promise anything. He didn’t want to jinx himself.

The colonel eased the door open, trying to be quiet so as not to give away their exact location. The two slid out onto the porch, taking in the cool, menacing night beyond them. Kozmotis took a breath to steady himself. They could do this. 

From the angle of the ground floor, it was almost as if the zombies aren’t there. He couldn’t see them over the rise of the hill, but he could sort of hear their shuffling gait displacing sand and pebbles further down. 

This whole endeavor was nerve-wracking, to say the least. Bunnymund and Kozmotis both went creeping out as far as they dared and got to work. They were out of seeing range with each other before long, but still within sight of the house lights. At least they didn’t have to look at each other while they worked. Kozmotis was in no mood to be around Bunnymund, even in such a dire situation. Not after that disaster of a boat ride. But, he shook his head. These traps wouldn’t build themselves.  
He may have been a little rusty, but Kozmotis quickly fell into a rhythm, and he was proud of every trap he successfully completed. He had a few false starts due to bad lighting and shaky hands. Adrenaline was great for bursts of strength or speed. Fine motor skills, not so much. 

“Fuck!” The curse came from Aster, who Kozmotis had been able to hear working and muttering to himself only seconds earlier. He paused, listening intently as he stared into the shadows. He couldn’t hear the colonel anymore, but there was a rustling sound. Different than the sounds of Aster working. Cautious, Kozmotis snuck back towards the last place he’d heard Bunnymund and blinked. 

The other man was cornered, backed up against an unusually thick tree trunk by a pair of zombies. He caught Aster’s eye and stared, somewhat at a loss. The longer he stood there, the more desperate Aster looked. A sudden and utterly horrible thought flew into his mind. If he tried to save Bunnymund, he might not be able to get back to the house himself. He could just leave. The zombies hadn’t seen him yet. He could go back to the house and pretend he just hadn’t noticed when Aster didn’t follow after him.

Or… Kozmotis reached for the gun at his hip and drew it. He pointed it at Aster’s head, finger curling around the trigger. It had been too late, he could say. The zombies had gotten to Aster first, he had to do it. Had to pull the trigger on him. It would be so easy… 

Two gunshots exploded in the night, one after the other. 

Blood and brains went everywhere. The zombie pair stand there for a few seconds before tipping forward and collapsing, lifeless and mostly headless after being shot point blank. Aster is pressed back against the tree as far as possible, scared as Hell and a little disgusted. They’re both covered in zombie rot. But they’re alive.   
Kozmotis grabbed the colonel’s shirt and hauled him forward. “Run.” He said. The other zombies would no doubt be drawn by the sound of a gun. “Run!” He said again, taking off toward the house, dragging Aster behind him. They make it up the porch steps just as the first lone of zombies appear over the hill. From the second story windows, Tatiana and North are already opening fire. He could see Sandy and Jack ready in the undamaged first floor windows, waiting for Aster and Kozmotis to get in and out of firing range.

Kozmotis shoved Aster through the door, slamming himself against the door to close it behind them. He let out a long, shuddering breath. Safe. They were safe.   
Once he caught his breath, he noticed Aster staring at him. He stared back, completely unapologetic. “You… you would have let me die. You would have killed me.” Bunnymund said, too disbelieving to sound accusing. “Yes.” Kozmotis replied. “I would have. I wanted to.” His mind still feels separate from the rest of them. His voice sounded hollow and distant when he spoke. 

“But you didn’t. You still saved my life.” Now Aster stood tall, chest pushed out. Perhaps he felt that if he made himself bigger, he would feel braver. “Trust me, I didn’t do it for your benefit. My daughter needs her father, this group needs unity. Not a weak link. Not death.” What would his daughter have thought if she knew he had killed this man? What would Jack have thought? 

Kozmotis remembered a time when he would rather have died than initiate friendly fire on purpose. He remembered a time when he felt more in control of himself. It felt like that Kozmotis was a different person. Like he was detached. “You’ve changed.” Aster said warily. There was distrust and fear in his eyes. Kozmotis found he didn’t mind all that much. “Yes.” He replied again. “But then, the end of the world does have that effect on people.” 

With that, he brushed past Bunnymund, who flinched and stepped out of his way. They still had a firefight ahead of them, and they needed all hands to win it. Kozmotis grabbed another gun and went to the room where he’d seen Jack in the window on the way in. He quickly put Bunnymund out of his mind. 

Jack shot him a grin when he walked through the door. “You made it.” The boy moved over so there was room for both of them at the window. “Well of course. You asked me so nicely not to get myself killed.” Kozmotis smiled and ran a hand along the curve of Jack’s spine, just enough that the boy would notice, but not enough to make him lose his grip on the gun in his hands. “Uh, no. I asked you not to get eaten,” Jack retorted with a slightly flushed face, then, after a beat, he added, “There’s a difference.”

“I see. I’ll keep that in mind next time.” Kozmotis took his place in the window, propping his arms up in the sill. The moon gave off just enough light to bathe the rotting, once-people clambering up the hill in a silvery glow. A shot from upstairs knocked one at the front of the hoard back and into its fellows. More shots followed, and whatever Tatiana, North, and probably Aster missed, Sandy, Jack, and he would pick off. It was still dark, though, and some of the zombies did wander closer than was comfortable. That was what the traps were for. There were meaty snaps and wet splatters whenever a zombie shuffled into one of the many traps around the perimeter of the house. 

They both stood there, shivering in the open window. The air had cooled down quite a bit, even more since he’d come in just a few minutes ago. Well, they were fairly far north, and the combination of sea air and lack of sunlight took their toll on the temperature. Past the zombies, Kozmotis saw the outline of the wharf and the half-sunken ferry boat. 

Defending the house felt like war. It was familiar in an uncomfortable sort of way, but Kozmotis still lost himself to the muscle memory of shooting down advancing hostiles. It was sixteen types of awful and goddamn, this was supposed to be shore leave. 

They all pick off the zombies as they come over the hill, getting better as the night wears on. It turns into a sort of art form. Dozens of the things drop dead, and though more come to take their place, the hoard thins out after a half hour of shooting. Some probably left for easier meals, others probably just hadn’t shown up that night. By the time they all run out of targets, there are at least a hundred zombie corpses on the lawn. Not exactly good for real-estate marketing, Kozmotis thought with a wry smile. 

A few zombies managed to get to the porch, but anyone on the lower floor sealed up the windows by the time the zombies could stagger up the steps. A few of them banged uselessly against the heavy door while others tried the windows. One particularly stupid zombie, Jack pointed out, was flailing against the wall between the door and their window. 

The remaining few milled around the porch for a few more minutes before they gave up and wandered off. The stupid one stopped and managed to catch a rodent along the way. They would be back later, but for now… Well, they had… won. 

They’d defended their new home and come out the victors. Jack and Kozmotis stood quietly in the window a while longer. Their ears were ringing with gunfire, but slow grins were already spreading over their faces. “We did it.” Jack laughed and bounced on his toes after he set his gun aside. He looked as if he was debating something for a moment. His blue eyes flickered before he reached for Kozmotis. 

The general stood perfectly still as Jack stepped up his him, put his pale hands on Kozmotis’ arms, and leaned up. Jack’s eyes were sharp and imploring.   
His conversation with North flashed through his mind. He still wasn’t sure what to make of Jack’s feelings, seeing as Jack hadn’t actually told him anything. But Jack was here now, standing on his tip toes to make himself taller and curling his fingers into the sleeves of Kozmotis’ shirt, which seemed about as telling as any awkward confession might be.

Slowly, Kozmotis tipped his head down to meet Jack. It wasn’t anything special. No fireworks or anything. Just a simple press of lips while the adrenaline and the ringing in their ears faded. The kiss was brief, but nice. Kozmotis stood straight and reached up to smooth his hand over Jack’s unruly hair and smiled when the boy’s hair bounced back up. Jack was smiling, too, when Kozmotis stepped back. 

“We should go find the others. I’m sure the children will want to know what happened and North will want to know you’re well.” He took one of the hands still holding his sleeve and gently urged Jack toward the door. “Yeah. I wonder if anyone else kept count of how many they killed?” Of course Jack would try to keep count. He could turn just about anything into a game or a joke, and for that, Kozmotis was thankful. Someone had to lighten things up around here.

“You can certainly ask, Jack.” Kozmotis told him as they met up with Sandy by the stairway and tromped up the stairs where everyone else would be waiting. Jack was running off with the kids as soon as he saw them, probably to tell them all about how he helped fight off the hoard. Jack was a wonderful storyteller, after all. And who could appreciate his skills better than the children?

Sandy drew his attention back with a pat to the hand and a smug smile. Kozmotis rolled his eyes. “Don’t give me that look.” He said, giving his old friend a nudge to the shoulder. Together, they went to join the other adults to discuss what they would do now. They settled into the plush chairs in the upstairs sitting room.

“So, we already know we didn’t get all of the zombies tonight.” Tatiana started, shifting in her seat. “Which means they’ll come back later. We need a system for if we need to go outside and a lookout if they start sniffing around the house again.” Straight to the point, just as usual. Tatiana really was the only levelheaded person left in their group. North leaned so far forward in his seat Kozmotis thought he would fall and looking about as excited as always. “Yes, we could have pairs. We have six of us, so we can have three pairs. Like, um, like buddy system!” 

“Yeah, but we got eight kids. Are we just gonna leave two people at a time to manage them or do we take ‘em with us when we have to go out?” Aster said criticly, arms crossed firmly over his chest. Sandy nodded along. The children did present a risk, especially when they were safer now and had time to run around and play.   
“We can develop a system for that, too.” Kozmotis spoke up now. One of the benefits of having his own child was understanding how to get her attention quickly. “Make some simple call backs for them. It will be easy for them all to remember if we make them rhyme and make sure they understand they need to stay in groups of two or four.” The kids were all smart and they had survived with them this long. Kozmotis trusted them to stay safe.

“Good. We can all take shifts if we’re in groups, too.” Tatiana said, smiling. After that, they all took a partner. Tatiana and Aster were the easiest pair to decide, since they were married and actually liked each other. Which was great. Hopefully Kozmotis wouldn’t have to be around Bunnymund so much after this. There were still two groups to decide, though, and he wasn’t sure if North was giving him a threatening look to scare him away from Jack or scare him into spending more time with Jack.   
Sandy was the deciding factor. He gave Kozmotis a look, as if to say ‘you owe me one’ and went to go stand by North. The two of them volunteered to take the first watch. That just left Kozmotis and Jack, then. With a sigh, he went to go find the boy, following the increasing volume of laughter behind the door down the hall.   
He found Jack roughhousing with some of the kids. He was losing to Jamie and Cupcake. Sera ad Sophie were in the corner drawing with fancy pens and parchment. Actual parchment. Whatever they were drawing was some kind of collaboration. It looked suspiciously like a stickman version of Jack with a pair of butterfly wings. He cleared his throat to get Jack’s attention.

“Don’t rile them up too much, Jack, it’s nearly bedtime.” Kozmotis hadn’t even finished his sentence before the children were groaning unhappily. “Yes. Bedtime for everyone. Even us grownups are going to bed. It’s late.” He had to be the responsible adult here, because Jack obviously wasn’t going to fill that roll here. With another chorus of unhappy sounds from the children and from Jack, Kozmotis herded the children to their rooms to put them to bed.

On their way back down the hall, Kozmotis filled Jack in on what he missed. “We’re going to be a pair, if that’s alright.” Kozmotis ended with. Jack flushed almost predictably now. “Y-yeah, that sounds fine.” It meant they would share a room, and Jack’s ears turned red when that came up. It didn’t take long to get settled once they reached the room.

Jack hesitated at the door, though, foot scuffing against the floor. Kozmotis tuned back to him and raised a brow. “This is your room, too, Jack.” It wasn’t even the first time they’d shared a room, if Aster and Tatiana’s cottage room could count. 

“You’re probably just as tired as I am, yes? Come to bed. It’s time to sleep.” Kozmotis toed out of his shoes and sat down on the bed. “We can talk tomorrow, alright?” That seemed to do the trick. Jack came to the bed and fell back on it. He was asleep before he even took his shoes off. Kozmotis rolled his eyes fondly, pulled Jack’s shoes off, and tucked him in. Kozmotis was quick to fall asleep, too, once he dragged himself to bed. 

They were safe now. They didn’t have to run anymore, and he almost couldn’t believe it. Sleep came easy and the nightmares stayed away. Tomorrow was full of promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Just a reminder that comments are great for motivation. Even a little "this was good" or "I liked the chapter" is appreciated. Please. Stay tuned for chapter nine, coming soon!


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